And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. Jer. 32:38-41
Dear Heavenly Father, I know you don’t lie, but this portion of your Word exposes the depths of my unbelief and the vestiges of the bad theology that still haunts my heart. It also invites me to see that the gospel is so much bigger and better than I could ever hope or imagine. You alone are God and you alone are this good.
The first thing I notice in this Scripture is all the “I will’s” connecting this extraordinary catalogue of grace-filled promises. Indeed, Father, you make promises you alone can keep. The gospel is a one-sided unilateral mercy mission that you have woven into history. I praise you for your inviolate commitment to be such an outrageously, immeasurably generous God.
I praise you for promising never to stop doing good to us and for finding so much joy in doing us good. This is truly overwhelming, almost too good to be true. However, you’ve already “made good” on your promise to make an everlasting covenant with us, and this fuels the fire of our faith.
Lord Jesus, well beyond Jeremiah’s day, you came and you accomplished everything necessary to prove our Father isn’t exaggerating, in his claim to be so loving and faithful to us. Your life, death, and resurrection, on our behalf, guarantee God is this good all the time, and all the time, God is this good to us! No matter what we see, feel or think, this is how our God is at work.
Because of you, Jesus, we’re already perfectly forgiven and have already been declared to be righteous in God’s sight. Because of you, one Day we will be made completely whole and the whole creation will be made new. On that day our Father will plant us in the land of the new heaven and new earth. We believe; help us in our unbelief, dear Lord.
Until that day, Holy Spirit, continue your transforming and liberating work in our lives. Free us to love and serve our God with singleness of heart, affectionate reverence, and gospel-driven obedience. Hallelujah, what a salvation! Hallelujah, what a Savior! So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ triumphant and tender name.
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