“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”
Jeremiah 31:3 (RSV)
God’s love for us is what motivates Him to remain so steadfast in faithfulness towards us, even when we are not. Everything God does for us is out of love. Jeremiah wrote so many wonderful scriptures under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Just like Jesus, Jeremiah hoped to stir the hearts of people to return to God, but instead, both men suffered ridicule, public disgrace, arrest, and imprisonment. During Jeremiah’s time, the nation was in a crisis and God called him to speak His words to the people. He said things that were profound but also brought him to tears, which is why Jeremiah was known as the “weeping prophet.”
He lived during a time of political instability and extreme moral decay. His nation was under the threat of Babylonian captivity, and though his words were mostly ignored, the influence of his writing was much greater after Jeremiah’s death. Some of the most hope filled and beautiful verses in scripture came from this weeping prophet, whose tears bore much fruit later on.
God told Jeremiah that He loves us with an everlasting love. His book is a book filled with words of hope, promises of restoration, and descriptions of the complexity of human nature.
God inspired Jeremiah to write about His unwavering love and good plans for each of us, saying “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
It was through Jeremiah, that God promised the Israelites, who lost their faith and turned to idols, that He would make a new covenant with them and renew their faith. God loves prodigal nations as much as prodigal children. How is such love and mercy even possible, considering the faults and faithlessness of His chosen ones?
It’s possible only because God sees great worth and value in each one of us, even if we cannot see it in ourselves or others. He speaks to individuals for years in subtle ways, though it may not click within them until later in their lives. God keeps pouring His abundant grace upon us all.
(Romans 5:20)
It reminds me of what Jesus said in Revelation to one of the churches, “Your last works are greater than the first.” Our last works are wherever we are today in our present state. God doesn’t dwell on the past, He is the ever present God of today. There are people who once might have been apathetic or lukewarm regarding devotion to Jesus, but they have had a renewal of faith, so that their current faith and works are greater than their earlier days.
Other people may have spent an entire lifetime, having worked, served, and loved Jesus, faithfully throughout the years. Through many trials God has produced a spiritual endurance within them. Because of this, it can also be said that their last works are greater than their first. Whether we are life long faithful believers or re-committed believers, we equally receive His love, mercy and faithfulness, simply because God is good.
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah, about how highly valued we are in God’s eyes. He loves us with an everlasting love, and we could never do one thing to earn that kind of love, because it’s unconditional. No wonder Jeremiah wept so much.
If we could fully understand right now, how much worth and value God sees in each of us, we would probably collapse, overwhelmed with awe at such love, and weep like Jeremiah. It’s never too late to become who God meant us to be or where God meant us to be. He is a God of fourth quarter victories and last minute turn arounds in all lives.
The only thing that keeps some people from understanding the His steadfast love for them is pride or self hatred. A minister who counsels hundreds of depressed people each year, once said that pride and self hatred are fraternal twins, which coexist and trap people, fluctuating between the two.
Jesus, however, is a chain breaker, and He breaks through the lies of self hatred and sets captives free from pride. God sees our worth and our value in ways that we cannot see in ourselves, and which no other human person on earth will ever see in us.
Lord, we thank you and praise you for your steadfast faithful love and the great value and worth you see in every human being. Amen
