READING:
One-year plan: Jeremiah 31-32, Titus 2-3
Two-year plan: 2 Kings 13-14, John 11:1-16
———-
We don’t always like to think about God’s discipline. We know God is a God of love, and we don’t often think of discipline as a loving act . . . at least, that is, not when we’re the recipients of the discipline. We can tell others to trust God’s love under His discipline, but it’s just different when God’s carrying out His wrath on us. That’s when today’s Bible reading would be helpful to me.
God planned to bring judgment on His people because of their sin, but He also planned to restore them from captivity. His holiness demanded that He discipline His children, but His love also put limits on the discipline: “I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go unpunished” (Jer 30:11). He would compromise His holiness if He ignored their sin — so His people could not go unpunished — but He would discipline them justly and lovingly. Indeed, He would carry out judgment “until he fully accomplishes the purposes of His heart” (Jer 30:24).
We so often forget that God disciplines us to bring us back to Him. Like the Hebrews of Jeremiah’s day, we are to return to God, weeping and praying as we come. God yearns for our return, and He waits patiently for us to say, “After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth” (Jer 31:19). He really does love us “with an everlasting love” and draw us “with unfailing kindness” (Jer 31:3).
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Do you need to return to God in any area of your life?
DAILY PRAYER: “Father, thank You for Your pursuing, forgiving grace.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Jeremiah 33-35, Philemon
Two-year plan: 2 Kings 15, John 11:17-27
*portions first published in 2016
