God will Turn Our Lament into Joy: Part 3 -Jeremiah 31:17

Growing with God: A daily devotional with Tonia Slimm.

Jeremiah 31:17 (NIV)

“So there is hope for your descendants,” declares the Lord. “Your children will return to their own land.”

Jeremiah 31:17 (MSG)

“There’s hope for your children.” God’s Decree.”

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“There is [confident] hope for your future,” says the Lord; “Your children will come back to their own country.” -AMPLIFIED

“As Rachel is represented as weeping for her children, so is she represented as mourning for the tribes that were carried away into captivity, yet is she comforted with the Lord’s gracious assurance, “they shall come again from the land of the enemy.” So they did, and there is to be a glorious future yet for the people of God of the ancient race of Abraham.” ~Charles Spurgeon

As we looked at yesterday’s text, we found the Lord encouraging Israel to stop their lamenting and weeping. Why? Because one day Rachel’s children, Israel, would return hope.

“This is what the Lord says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come—this is the Lord’s declaration—and your children will return from the enemy’s land.” -Jeremiah 31:16 (CSB)

And as the promise continues, we find a reminder that Adonai loves to instill hope in His children, as we find Him again repeating the fact that the children of Israel will come home.

“There is hope for your future, I promise. Your children will come home to their own land.” -(VOICE)

The Lord encourages the people of Israel to hope. They were not to give up in their time of struggle. Yes, things looked impossible, but they needed to remember that they served a God who did the impossible. He had demonstrated His abilities to them many times over. If He had saved and protected them in the past, could He not do so again?

The Lord says to the people: “Things may look hopeless to you. It may appear, to the physical eye, that you have no purpose to go on, that your dream of living forever in the Promised Land is over, but don’t give up, hold on, press on, there is still hope for your future. That hope will come to pass with your children.”

Those who walk with the Lord always have hope for the future!

“There is hope for your future, says the Lord, and your children will come again to their own land.”

“God’s comfort to poetic Rachel was not empty. She could be comforted because there was a reward and a restoration. Her children would come back from the land of the enemy. God’s promise of restoration meant that there is hope in your future.” ~David Guzik

There is hope for our future, yours and mine. God has a plan, no matter how messed up our life is right now at this moment, God can take our messes and uses them for His glory.

Remember, God has given all His children a hope to hold on to, make note of what Scripture tells us:

God’s hope gives us strength to press on when we are suffering:

“And that’s not all. We also celebrate in seasons of suffering because we know that when we suffer we develop endurance, which shapes our characters. When our characters are refined, we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness. And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was given to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love.” -Romans 5:3-5 (VOICE)

“The best we can hope for in this life is a knothole peek at the shining realities ahead. Yet a glimpse is enough. It’s enough to convince our hearts that whatever sufferings and sorrows currently assail us aren’t worthy of comparison to that which waits over the horizon.” – Joni Eareckson Tada

God’s hope is an eternal, Living Hope, that should fill us with joy:

“Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant and boundless mercy has caused us to be born again [that is, to be reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] to an ever-living hope and confident assurance through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [born anew] into an inheritance which is imperishable [beyond the reach of change] and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who are being protected and shielded by the power of God through your faith for salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time. In this you rejoice greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, which is much more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested and purified by fire, may be found to result in [your] praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not even see Him now, you believe and trust in Him and you greatly rejoice and delight with inexpressible and glorious joy, receiving as the result [the outcome, the consummation] of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” -1 Peter 1:3-9 (AMP)

“You can look forward with hope, because one day there will be no more separation, no more scars, and no more suffering in My Father’s House. It’s the home of your dreams!” ~Anne Graham Lotz

God’s hope should fill us with confidence, because it means spending eternity with Him:

“For we can say all this to you confidently because it is the word of the Lord: we who are still alive and left behind when the Lord comes will not precede those who have fallen asleep in death. On that day, with a command that thunders into the world, with a voice of a chief heavenly messenger, and with a blast of God’s trumpet, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven; and all those who died in the Anointed One, our Liberating King, will rise from the dead first. Then we who are alive and left behind will be snatched up together with them into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. This is how we, the resurrected and the living, will be with Him forever. So comfort one another with this hope, and encourage one another with these words.” -1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 (VOICE)

“Biblical hope is life changing certainty about the future … being certain about the future in a way that affects how you live now.” ~Tim Keller

My friend, in the end, there is always hope if we are following and trusting in the Lord. Please, do not lose sight of the fact that Jesus is our Living Hope, that God has good things in store for His children. Press on. Hold on. Do not quit before you have reached the final goal, eternity with our Lord and Savoir!

“Remember Whose you are and Whom you serve. Provoke yourself by recollection, and your affection for God will increase tenfold; your imagination will not be starved any longer, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.” ~Oswald Chambers

My Prayer:

Adonai Elohim, my Great Lord, my hope is in you, you are my Living Hope. You are the One who encourages me to keep on, to never give up, because there is an eternity to be spent with you right around the corner. Lord, when the Enemy tries to discourage me, to distract me, or cause me to falter, help me to remember that this life is just a vapor, passing quickly. This is not the end, there is an eternity to be spent with you. This is my eternal, living hope, and I can hardly wait till I stand in your presence to worship you forevermore. Hallelujah! Maranatha!