Bible Verses: Jeremiah

This week we complete our study on Jeremiah until January. Next week we will begin our study on Giving Thanks. May God continue to challenge and change our hearts through the book of Jeremiah and beyond!

*Bible Verses is not an exhaustive study and each reader should seek the Lord alone for revelation and application.

Jeremiah 31: 18-20
"I have heard Ephraim grieving,
'You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
like an untrained calf;
bring me back that I may be restored,
for you are the Lord my God.
For after I had turned away, I relented,
and after I was instructed, I slapped my
thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'
Is Ephraim my dear son?
Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
I do remember him still.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the Lord."

*The following notes are my own thoughts and feelings and do not reflect interpretation. Each reader should seek the Holy Spirit for interpretation and application.

This passage just stops me. Oh I am so much like Ephraim, so trapped in the sin that should have been gone with my youth, I receive instruction and yet still cannot seem to correct mistakes. And yet, the Lord redeems, and yet the Lord remembers me, speaks of me as His daughter, yearns to renew and to communicate with me, and Yet he loves me. Like the verse states, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."(Romans 5:8) While we were yet sinners, someday we will not struggle with sin, but today, I do. Today I battle sin, and Today I need the Lord to respond with And Yet. And Yet I love you, And yet I will give you mercy, and Yet.

Someone today needs to hear that the promise of the Lord is Christ's victory over sin, and our desperate need of Christ. Someone today needs to hear that we will struggle, we will battle, and Yet the Savior of the World longs to hear from you. We are all sinners you see we do not gain salvation, we do not merit good, we don't win a championship and stand on a podium for our name to be called. We fall at His feet and we wait for Him to call us. For Him to whisper our name and rescue us from sin. The marathon is won by Him and His love. Today:Christ wants to know you, he loves you, he offers you mercy because "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)