SUNDAY, 3 DECEMBER 2023
TEXT:
Jeremiah 31:23-40
23:
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them
back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once
again use these words: ‘The Lord bless you, you prosperous city, you sacred
mountain.’
24:
People will live together in Judah and all its towns—farmers and those who move
about with their flocks.
25:
I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
26:
At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.
27:
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the kingdoms of
Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals.
28:
Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy
and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares
the Lord.
29:
“In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30:
Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their
own teeth will be set on edge.
31:
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with
the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
32:
It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them
by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I
was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33:
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,”
declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their
hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34:
No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the
Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their
sins no more.”
35:
This
is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the
moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord Almighty is his name:
36:
“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “will Israel
ever cease being a nation before me.”
37:
This is what the Lord says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the
foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the
descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord.
38:
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this city will be rebuilt for
me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
39:
The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and
then turn to Goah.
40:
The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces
out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate,
will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”
(New
International Version Holy Bible)
TOPIC:
GOD WILL REFRESH THE WEARY AND SATISFY THE FAINT
The
Bible assures us that the righteous falls seven times and rises again. Being
taken into captivity is not as bad as staying in captivity.
One
commendable attribute of the Israelites is that whenever they found themselves
in captivity, they always remembered to come
to God with tears and God was always willing to refresh the weary and
abused Israelites.
God
Himself assured His people that He would enter into a fresh covenant with them
which will be unlike the old covenant made with their ancestors at Mount Sinai
(Exodus 19-24) which ended in disaster and judgement.
The
good news about this new covenant is that the Lord God promised to write His
laws on the hearts and minds of His people in contrast with the old covenant
which was written on a tablet of stone (Exodus 24:12). The Church is a
beneficiary of this New Covenant inaugurated through the shedding of Christ's
blood.
QUESTION:
On the global calendar, today is World Disabled Day. Are you spiritually
disabled?
PRAYER:
Thank You, loving father, for the enablement You give the physically and
spiritually disabled. Amen.
Remain
Blessed
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