Jeremiah 3

Photo of 1 Corinthians 13 on a burned piece of paper by Leighann Blackwood on Unsplash

“I'm committed in love to you.”

I'm really grateful that my kids and I have never had a falling out. I can't really imagine the pain that would cause. Being estranged from my children is probably my greatest fear. I don't even want to think about it.

As a pastor, I have spent a lot of time talking through things with people who are estranged from their children or parents. The heartache of those broken relationships is indescribable. It is really trendy these days to talk about how your parents and sibilings are people you don't need in your life, yet nobody really means it. When our relationships with parent, children, or siblings are broken it is devastating. Some times those relationships need to be broken because of abuse, and while healthy, it is no less devastating.

That's the thing.

When it comes to these relationships, that are the closest to us and most intimate, the breaking of them, even when it is necessary, leaves a wound that is not easily healed.

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As I read through Jeremiah 3 this morning it struck me that the imagery that is used is one of a Father and children who have been estranged. There is a clear desire on both of their parts to reunite. Yet, the wound is so severe that there seems to be little hope.

This line, “I'm committed in love to you,” is a beacon of hope in an otherwise painful and horrific passage of Scripture.

There is no desire on God's part to punish. The desire is for restoration. The desire is for healing.

Why?

Because God is committed in love.

There's a section in verse 19 where God talks about how God has planned what God would say if the people came back. It demonstrates this desire for re-connection.

If my children and I were estranged, I think that I would feel exactly the same way.

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The question I'm wrestling with today is this, “How does it make me feel to know that God is committed in love to me?”

— Discuss...

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