“For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has not abandoned Israel and Judah. He is still their God, even though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.” – Jeremiah 51:5 NLT God does not abandon His people. God does not turn His back on His people. He is constant, faithful, and forgiving. I can imagine the Israelite people were really struggling to believe that God was still with them. In their minds they were ripped from their homeland and taken into a hostile kingdom. I am sure they probably felt like God had just washed His hands of them. They would have been right too had it not been for the fact that God is God and not man. Where man is quick to write others off for their failures, God is quick to forgive. He desires nothing more than close communion with His people. For that reason God stays close to those He loves even when they are failing at loving Him. The love of God is such a strong love that it has nothing to do with us really. More appropriately it has nothing to do with our behavior or actions. God loves us because He just does and not because we do something to earn His love. Since God’s love is not predicated on our behavior it makes since that He would not abandon us in our time of failure. Certainly when God is allowing us to experience the consequences of our poor decisions it feels as if He has left us, but the reality is God is standing still in the place where we left Him. He didn’t pull away from us. He didn’t even get discouraged by our actions and start walking the other way. He stayed exactly where we left Him so that we would be able to readily find Him when we turn around. There is an incredible freedom that comes from recognizing the depths of God’s love. That freedom gives us permission to seek His forgiveness because it helps us to see that He still desires us. That freedom gives us the opportunity to have a fresh start with Him after have failed Him. It is because of that freedom that we are able to be God’s redeemed people. Never forget that He loves you.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 13:26:07 +0000