Jeremiah 33
God’s people were on their way to being totally taken into captivity in Babylon. They had refused to listen to the voice of the Lord for so long that they were no longer able to hear His counsel, and they ended up doing the very things that landed them in bondage to the Babylonians.
To everyone else, it appeared that God had given up on His people: “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ‘Have you not noticed that these people are saying, “The Lord has rejected the two kingdoms he chose”? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation.’” (vs 23-24)
In a world where the existence of a god was usually determined by the strength of the nation who served him, the fact that the Israelites had been conquered and carried off would have signaled either (1) that the God of Heaven was no god at all or (2) that He had kicked His people to the curb.
Photo © Unsplash/Igor Rodrigues
In fact, neither was true: “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ‘This is what the Lord says: “If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.”‘” (vs 19-21)
As far as God was concerned, the covenant between Him and His people wasn’t broken—any more than the cycle of day and night could cease to exist. It seems, then, that Israel’s captivity was part of the covenant! God had promised to be good to them, to do what was right for them, and to prosper them, and in their desperate condition, sending them into captivity was the best thing for them!
Photo © Unsplash/Edge2Edge Media
God is always faithful to His word. And He is always faithful to us. He will do what is best for us, even when it isn’t what He would like to do. When we need to be confronted, He will confront us. When we need to be restrained, He will restrain us. When we need to be disciplined, He will discipline us.
He is faithful to do whatever is in our best interests. As far as He is concerned, the covenant He made with us is everlasting!