God's Forever People

October 25, 2017

How far does someone have to wander before God finally says, “Enough?” It’s an important question; one that worries many people. “Have I stepped over the edge? Have I committed the unforgivable sin?” I remember after stumbling one more time, telling God that if I were him, I’d be SO done with me. His answer? “Aren’t you glad I’m not you?” 

Israel had been rescued from slavery in Egypt, brought into the Promised Land, where for generations they periodically turned from following the Lord to chasing after the idols and gods of the nations around them. Over and over again, they turned to God when in distress, and walked away once things were going well. By the time Jeremiah had come on the scene, time was running out for the nation. Before his time had run out, Babylon had swept down from the north, isolating, and finally overwhelming the land. Anyone who was anybody was deported; only the poorest of the poor were left to provide minimal care of the land.

Through all the rebellion, all the wandering, all the idolatry, God disciplined, chastised, and punished Israel, but he never abandoned them. He complains to Jeremiah that Israel was worshipping idols, committing all sorts of immorality in the name of the perverse gods of the nations surrounding them, abandoning the LORD who redeemed them. But in spite of his anguish and his determination to punish Israel, he keeps calling them “My people.” He never disowns them. And he never disowns us. Paul tells Timothy, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful; he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13). Psalm 100:3 declares that “we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” And because we are, we can as the following verse says, “enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”