A Steadfast God Never Gives Up



 

Scripture:  The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt…I will put the law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know the Lord, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.” Jeremiah 31: 31-34 (TEV)

 

Devotional Thought:  As we approach this Holy Week 2021, I am in awe of how God never gives up on Creation, on us. Time after time God reaches out to God’s wayward people. Adam and Eve had it made and off they strayed. God reached out reordering the plan, so life continues. There is the promise of the rainbow and again Noah’s descendants stray from God. There is the covenant with Abraham and again people wander away from God. God reaches out to the Israelites freeing them from slavery and providing commandments for living. But they have trouble obeying. Those are only the big reaches God made. There also are all the smaller attempts to reach us through the words of the prophets, yet the people still do not get it. God’s greatest reach out to us is through the life, death, and resurrection of God’s Son Jesus. Do we get it now? Sometimes and sometimes not. 

   We get frustrated, giving up on one another and ourselves, saying nothing will change. We feel burned out, wanting to retire, change jobs or move because we feel that we have done everything to make the world a better place and nothing changes. I hear people say, “It is what it is, and it will never change.” I admit I too have been there at times, but then I remember what God has done over and over and over again. I know God will never stop reaching out to His wayward creation. God will never give up on us. In this steadfastness lies the hope for the world to change – to become a better place.

 

I wonder why we are so quick to give up on one another.

I wonder why we stray from God so easily.

I wonder how this Holy Week we will reach out to God’s reaching out.

 

Prayer:

Dear God, 

    Thank you for never giving up on us.

    Thank you for this new covenant in Jesus.

    Help us to be persistent in following you.

    Help us to never give up on one another or ourselves.

    For you have shown us that you are greater than any earthly trouble.

Amen.

 

Thoughts for my younger friends after the scripture is read to them:

I wonder, have you ever gotten anything new. What happened to the old one?

I wonder, how God will make this new covenant. Have you heard the story of Easter?

I wonder, how you will reach out to God this week, because God is reaching out to you.

 

By Lynne Pabst, Certified Christian Educator

 

 

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 30, 2021 at 4:30 AM

    Lynne, I am always blessed by your words!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoyMarch 31, 2021 at 6:32 AM

    Thank you, Lynne - a good reminder that we don’t need to resign ourselves to the fatalistic view of the world.

    ReplyDelete

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