I have loved you with an everlasting love.  I will never leave you nor forsake you.

• These are two phrases that came to me as I was praying this morning.  The Lord showed me that these are His promises from the past and my hope for the future.  God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He disciplines those He loves, who are His children.  But the purpose of discipline is to show us the errors of our ways and to turn our hearts back to Him.  God disciplines out of love for us, not anger towards us:
  • Hebrews 12:5-6, 10-11 NIV1984 says “5  And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart  when he rebukes you,  6  because the Lord disciplines those he loves,  and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son…10  Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  11  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

God does become angry with His people calling them a stiff necked people.  He calls them harlots, prostitutes, and adulteresses but His promise of deliverance and restoration remains after a time of discipline.  The basis for this is love, not anger.

While the whole of Jeremiah 31 refers to the future restoration of Israel in the end times, it shows the loving kindness of God towards His people.  The principle I walk away with is that God‘s love for us is everlasting.  He loved us from the beginning of creation, knowing we would sin and reject Him, yet providing a way for restoration to Him through the work of His own son Christ Jesus on the cross. 

This promise was originally given to Joshua as he was about to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 31:6, 8

God, through Moses, tells Joshua “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you…The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you;  he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” 

God has promised that He will always be our helper, He goes before us to prepare the way for what He has called each of us to do, and we are not to be discouraged or afraid especially when times of trial come. In Proverbs 29:25 we are told that the “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” Fear and discouragement come when we get our eyes off the Lord and on to the situation before us.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Standing in fear, awe, and reverence of God is our call.  I have lived my life in “fear of man” looking for approval from them and receiving only pain and rejection.  I need to keep my eyes (thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) on Jesus who is the author and perfecter of my faith because he has promised that he would be with me until the end of the ages.  Then, I will be with Him!

There are three more scriptures that come to mind as I’ve meditated on what God has shown me through the Holy Spirit and His word:

Summary: When I seek for a relationship with God with everything that’s in me, memorizing His word to live by it, submitting my will to His will with humility in my heart, grieving over my sinfulness, recognizing that Jesus is the only way truth and life, then God will lift me up to a place where He can use me.  That is how to live a life of submission to the Lord!