You may have seen Siena, Italy, on the news, either because of the coronavirus-related quarantine in the area or because its residents were filmed singing from their windows in the face of such hardship, but it has long been one of my favorite places in the world. While Americans have football and the Super Bowl, the Sienese have horse races and the Il Palio di Siena every July and August. Not unlike our own strong team affiliations, these Italians are die-hard fans for their individual contrada, or city division. You see, Siena is divided into ten contrade, each represented by a horse and a rider donning representative colors and flags.
The race itself takes place in the city center, and includes three laps around the piazza which take roughly ninety seconds, on average. Yet it’s the most-anticipated and beloved ninety seconds of the year; the rest of the year is spent in support of their home-turf contrada, waving flags and supporting their horse and rider, as well as the division itself, a loyalty that is passed down through generations to enjoy and carry on into the future.
In Jeremiah 30, we read about another kind of communal loyalty to tradition. Judah thought they’d never see their own ancestral land again. God, however, had different plans, and a new covenant: “I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it” (Jeremiah 30:3).
When I think of God’s people returning home, I can’t help but picture the reunion in the same style of celebration as Il Palio—bright colors, hooping and hollering, beaming with pride and excitement, as they “come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion… radiant with joy” (Jeremiah 31:12). Except this time, it’s God who is cheering on His children. It is He who is most excited to claim victory and freedom for His beloved and see them back home where they belong. Just as the Italians spent all year preparing for Il Palio, I like to picture God orchestrating the new covenant, anticipating radiant shouts of joy, long before His people returned home.
As we’ve journeyed through the book of Jeremiah, there have been warnings about the future and mountain-top moments of returning-home joy. But at the heart of this book and this Lenten season of remembrance and repentance is this: God can be trusted to hold both sorrow and joy, and He is faithful through it all. Thanks be to Him.
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38 thoughts on "God’s People Brought Home"
God loves me with an everlasting love! ❤️
I’m so confused….why are
The verses from Amos included here, they are so opposite from the feel of what Jeremiah was saying. Anyone else notice that?
What great hope found in these verses…
Praise God!
Loved today’s readings! Such a hopeful and healing reading! Also loved the visual of Sienna! I was there during the race time several years ago and it is such a joyful and happy time – a fun reminder of that memory and great framing for the passage today! Thankful!!!
So I’ve put off reading this devotional for a few days because with all of the chaos and changes that this virus has brought, I was having a hard time getting through the lengthy Jeremiah passages. I decided to tackle it early this morning and as I read about God restoring his people and their lands, it gave me hope that God can restore whatever is lost in this current time. I have not had to deal with sickness or death yet personally from this, but I know it could happen at any moment (cases are growing drastically each day in Pennsylvania). Our investments have plummeted and we’ve lost most of our retirement. I will not be getting an income while school is out so finances will be a bit tighter than normal. Yet I know we are more blessed than some right now. Even so, its a scary time. But God is with us through it all and He has the power to restore everything, whether in this life or the next. Love the reminder at the end of the devotional: “God can be trusted to hold both sorrow and joy, and He is faithful through it all. Thanks be to Him.”
LAURA THEOBALD your joy will be restored. We just have to believe it and wait for God’s promises to manifest. You are in my prayers.
I love LOVE the last sentence in her devotional when she says “God can be trusted to hold both sorrow and joy and He is faithful through it all.”
“Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears for there is work to be done” is the message this scared RN needed today. Thankful for hope in the future, in mercy. We can do hard things.
Praise be to God for His new covenant to us! Thanks be to Him for His faithfulness and love towards us through times of joy, sorry, repentance and celebration. And, thank You for the promise of an eternal home!
I needed these words tonight. This pandemic hit close to home for me today- I lost a guy I knew in college to COVID-19. I wasn’t close to him, but I went to a small college and we were both in the Greek system. He was only 34 and relatively healthy before catching the virus. I am now off of work and going crazy with anxiety. I need to hold true to the promise of Easter. Even though it will be a different kind of Easter, I need my mourning to turn into joy. There has to be joy again.
I am glad that I am under control of such an amazing God the Saviour. Thank you my Lord God Almighty.
I love the fact that God restores his people to himself. It doesn’t matter how far we have strayed, he has a plan to win us back! This passage gave me such hope for our current situation. While I believe this situation wasn’t God’s doing, I believe that God will use this virus to get our attention and he will being good out of it. I also am comforted to know that there will be singing, dancing and laughing again. Our world will be healed soon.
33“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Honestly, today I was just so overwhelmed with a new sense of God’s love and grace for his people regardless of their actions and his unwavering, faithful presence with them through the deepest and darkest valleys. Jeremiah 31:37 ❤️
Today’s reading is so on time for the situation that our world is in at this time. God’s promises of deliverance, protection and healing is awesome!! Jeremiah 30:7 “Alas! That day is so great there is none like it”, reminds me of this new virus that we are dealing with but read the rest of the scripture, “Yet he shall be saved out of it.” God is good!!! Then God’s word goes on to say in Jeremiah 30:17, For I will restore health to you and your wounds I will heal… Jesus, I thank you for Your promises and I trust in Your word.
Loving this study of Jeremiah! There were so many verses that stood out to me today, but Jeremiah 31:20 really spoke to me. “Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord. It’s really amazing to see God’s grace to us in discipling us as well as his everlasting love that longs to restore us to Himself.
Thank you, Kaitlin, for such a refreshing devotional this morning. Today’s reading scripture was so encouraging as well. A footnote in Bible said ” Chapters 30 and 31 show that Jeremiah spoke of hope and consolation as well as trouble and gloom.” This really touched me because so many just preach the trouble and gloom without the hope and consolation. It’s important to remember that even we sin God still loves us and longs for us to return to him with sincere and repentant hearts. When we do, he is faithful to forgive us and restore us back to him. What a wonderful promise from our God!
After reading today’s scripture and devotional how can I not have hope and faith and a renewed sense of encourgement. This applies not only to now with this terrible virus going around but it applies to eveyday life. You see, Jeremiah 30:10 the first part tells us not to be afraid because God will save us. Jeremiah goes on to say in the first part of 30:17 God will heal us. God will heal us not just from physical illnesses but from emotional, mental and yes, even spiritual — especially spiritual illnesses. In Jeremiah 31:3 God lets us know He loves us with a love that will never, ever stop. God goes on to say in 31:25 “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. (NIV)” Jesus also says this in the New Testament. I believe Kaitlin sums it all up with this sentence, “God can be trusted to hold both sorrow and joy, and He is faithful through it all.” Oh how God has been there through my sorrows and joys and all I had to do is call out for Him.
Lord, God give us the courage, the encourage, the knowledge, the hope and the faith we need right now to get through these troubling times. Help us to look at the happy and joyous times and through it all to remember You are there. You are our Rock, our Guide, our Great Physician and our One and Only and You can do anything. Amen.
Loved having this mental image of Italy as I pray for their nation (as well as all the nations) this morning. And loved reading Jeremiah 31; what an image of God’s love & faithfulness. Trying to dwell on this passage more than I am dwelling on the news. Praying for all of my sisters in Christ out there xxx
Thanks for the bit of orange coloring in the book! It was refreshing in a time of such grey!
My daughter could not sleep last night. We went to bed with worship music on. Somehow we fell asleep. This morning she didn’t want me to leave her side. I have to go to work but she has to stay home. There’s no more school until April 6. At least that’s what they’re telling us. Tomorrow will be my last day at work since I work at a school but I will be “on call” if they need me to come help with more cleaning. So this morning, And my heart is so filled with joy, as my daughter (whose a teenager ) sat next to me and we read this devotion together. She enjoyed what Kaitlyn had to say this morning. And it gave her great peace. Please pray for her. She’s experiencing anxiety and it’s not due to her current situation with this virus. It’s life. But right now I enjoyed this moment of the two of us reading God‘s word of encouragement. Yes, God can be trusted both sorrow and joy. He is faithful.
❤️❤️❤️
This is just what I have been learning too! Thank you, your words were so encouraging! God’s unfathomable, limitlessly perfect love reaches out to us Jeremiah 31:14. His justice disciplines us to bring us to a knowledge of His goodness Jeremiah 31:18. He forgives us because He wants us, He is our God, we are His people. Jeremiah 31:33-34. When things don’t look or feel right, I am forced to a place of need, and I am called to run to Him, and He is faithful to heal my incurable pain Jeremiah 30:17. And to draw near to me by the power of His everlasting love Jeremiah 31:3. Though I am helpless and unworthy He is my redeemer, He fills me with life through Jesus’s sacrifice and risen life! He says He has a plan, He will be found by me. Jeremiah 29:11-14. He fills me with His Spirit Romans 8:15. He is God, He is LORD! Psalm 119:89-96. So through the moments of uncertainty, I can seek Him with all my heart and know that He is enough, abundantly and incomprehensibly enough. Ephesians 3:14-19. I am His, His daughter, His people, His bride, and through His love, forgiveness, and life, He reaches down to me and draws me to Himself. Colossians 1:13-14.
Yes and amen!
So much in today’s reading! So grateful to God for his holiness and faithfulness! 31:21 is just one verse I highlighted and noted–remember where you’ve been, what God has brought you through, what you’ve learned!
Finally Jeremiah has “pleasant sleep.” His prophecy of God’s righteous and harsh judgment of Israel gives way to a prophecy of great hope and restoration. We can practically see the burden lift from his weary shoulders. How comforting for us to be reminded that God says “I will discipline you justly” and also “I will turn their mourning into joy, give them consolation, and bring happiness out of grief.” God’s discipline is just, fair and it fits the offense. God’s discipline is not capricious. God’s love for His people is everlasting and so He is quick to move from discipline to forgiveness, compassion and restoration. In our times of discipline, may we remember His tender mercies. We don’t often understand the why or the way of God when we’re in a difficult season. When we don’t understand the ways of His hands, may we remember we can always trust His heart. In our difficult season, let us look up from our knees. Let us repent and let us hope. He walks through every difficulty with us. Just is His discipline. Great is His faithfulness. Deep is His love.
❤️❤️❤️
These verses gave me so much hope today. They seem relevant to everything our world is experiencing, and I was deeply moved by God’s promises to His people (and to us) of His never-ending love. Like Angie, I marked Jeremiah 31:33-34 with “Thank You for Jesus.” Praise God that He is near and faithful to us, even when it’s hard to see.
Lindsey, I agree! I got chills reading these verses just now of the Father’s care and concern for His people and His plan to bring them – US – home!
It was amazing to read so much hope today! I really loved the end of chapter 31 in the Message:
“If this ordered cosmos ever fell to pieces, fell into chaos before me” – God’s Decree – Then and only then might Israel fall apart and disappear as a nation before me. If the skies could be measured with a yardstick and the earth explored to its core, Then and only then would I turn my back on Israel, disgusted with all they’ve done.”
All I could say reading this was wow! Israel has messed up over and over again, but look at how much God loves them! I can’t help but be filled with hope (especially in these trying times for all of us) and assured that God is completely in love with us all, despite our shortcomings. Love to you all!
Also- be in prayer for all us moms- I’m currently working from home and keeping my 7 and 4 year old busy with schoolwork. I’m happy to say it is going well so far, but we have a long road ahead. :)
I underlined and circled so many statements in todays verses. God’s declarations, His promises of, “I will.”
I wrote, “THANK YOU JESUS,” around Jeremiah 31:33-34 because that teaching within, that writing on hearts is for us today because of Jesus. God is our God and we are His people because of Jesus. He knows us and forgives our iniquity, never to be remembered again…because of Jesus.
Then I wrote, When Jesus is all that is LEFT, everything is RIGHT.
Trusting God as our loving and good Father, His Son, Jesus our redeeming brother, and the Holy Spirit to indwell, writing on my heart and in my mind His name and His Word.
God’s people brought Home. Praying for you sisters and praying for lost souls to find Jesus during this time. He longs for all to come to salvation. Thank you Lord.
I love that—“When Jesus is all that’s Left, everything is Right!”
The verse “ I will discipline you justly and I will by no means leave you unpunished “ stuck out for me ( Jeremiah 31:11). For some reason , when I think of the word “justice” , I think of just desserts being served to someone else, you know … the “really bad guys”. Although we are all purified by the blood of Jesus, this verse reminds me that God has to set boundaries with us and enforce those boundaries , out of love ( much like I have to do with my toddler each and every day … I have rules I have to enforce which I do out of love . In the moment it doesn’t feel good, but I do it out of an over-arching love for my sons well being . Loving parents can hold both joy and sadness at the same time , and God is our loving parent . During this time of “exile” into our homes in 2020, I feel like I am being given the opportunity to reflect and repent for my sins and for our sins as a nation. This feels like an opportunity for God to bring our nation back to Him.
If only we will heed! If only we will speak out against Sin! Then we will be restored!
Amen!
So many wonderful pictures in Scripture today: God as a Shepard, God as Redeemer, God as Provider. When I read this: This is what the Lord says:
The people who survived the sword
found favor in the wilderness.h
When Israel went to find rest,i
3 the Lord appeared to himA from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;j
therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.k
4 Again I will build you so that you will be rebuilt,
Virgin Israel.l
You will take up your tambourines againm
and go out in joyful dancing.
5 You will plant vineyards againn
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters will plant and will enjoy the fruit.
I was thinking of times in my own life or in any of our lives where God sees what we are/have gone through that felt like I/we couldn’t go on, and He promises hope. You will go on, things will get better, and we will or have overcome by His help, love, and grace!
When I read: For this is what the Lord says:
Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations!
Proclaim, praise, and say,
“Lord, save your people,q
the remnant of Israel!”r
8 Watch! I am going to bring them from the northern land.
I will gather them from remote regions of the earths—
the blind and the lame will be with them,t
along with those who are pregnant and those about to give birth.
They will return here as a great assembly!u
9 They will come weeping,
but I will bring them back with consolation.B,v
I will lead them to wadis filled with water,
by a smooth way where they will not stumble,w for I am Israel’s Father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.x
10 Nations, hear the word of the Lord,
and tell it among the far off coasts and islands!y
Say, “The one who scattered Israel will gather him.z
He will watch over him as a shepherd guards his flock,
11 for the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and redeemed him from the power of one stronger than he.”aa
12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;ab
they will be radiant with joyac
because of the Lord’s goodness,
because of the grain, the new wine, the fresh oil,ad
and because of the young of the flocks and herds.
Their life will be like an irrigated garden,
and they will no longer grow weak from hunger.
I see how God doesn’t forget any of us! He said that includes the lame, blind, and pregnant! They come back with weeping, but God brings consolation He provides, and God makes a smooth way so they don’t stumble. He is likened to a shepherd again. There is no better Shepherd than He to rely on, and He loves and cares for us! He never leaves or forsakes. He is all Good, and the Trinity provides all we need for this life and the unfathomable perfect joy we will have for eternity! I just heard a podcast about the fear of the Lord. That isn’t a bad thing. Yes, He loves us, but He is Holy, All Powerful, and Sovereign. Think of all He has done for us, and who He is. She was saying that should make us want to be in awe of Him, hold Him in highest regard, and see Him for all He is. This should invoke a response of wanting to honor and serve Him out of love, and not because we think we have to! (I’m paraphrasing, but hope I’m getting the message across.)
When the Scripture talks about Racheal weeping. I have buried my first baby. I was devastated. But, God used her life. Even though she was stillborn, and never took a breath outside the womb, her life was used to bring me to Jesus, help others that have gone through this pain, and her life and all life has a purpose!
Finally when I read: territory.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim moaning,
“You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined
like an untrained calf.f
Take me back, so that I can return,
for you, Lord, are my God.g
19 After my return, I felt regret;
After I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief.h
I was ashamed and humiliatedi
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”
20 Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to me,
a delightful child?j
Whenever I speak against him,
I certainly still think about him.
Therefore, my inner being yearns for him;
I will truly have compassion on him.
I’m reminded how God is faithful to forgive because of Jesus’ finished work on the Cross! How blessed we are that we don’t have to beat ourselves up, and God forgives when we mess up! He is Amazing! I’m thinking of that song that says: He’s more Awesome than I know! Let’s praise Him today!
I am reassured by God’s promises of faithfulness to His people in the verses, even though He still allows them to be punished.