Thought for Today 14 April

Thought for the Day - Tuesday 14^th April

Our reading today is Jeremiah 31: 1-6

At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel!
Again you shall take your tambourines,

and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit.
For there shall be a day when sentinels will call in the hill country of Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.”

How wonderful and affirming it was to open my Bible this morning on such a sunny and bright day, with the buds popping open on the trees around the garden and the birds singing in the hedges, and read these words from this passage in Jeremiah entitled ‘The Joyful Return of the Exiles’!

Here we are in the midst of our enforced lockdown separated from our families, separated from our church family, separated from our worldwide family. We are unable to gather together to worship our God, to share in Bible Study, to pray together, to celebrate the risen Jesus and so it really does feel as if we are the ones in exile at this time.

Yet, those words from verse three just jump out at you where God says, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you’ and therein is our hope of release from this exile.

We are assured that God loves us with an everlasting love, so although we may be separated from each other we are not separated from God, he is with us always, he is faithfully going through this with us and he will see us through this time of exile and when it is over and we are allowed to meet again then the joyful return of we exiles can be celebrated.

Take hope, we can see God’s hand evidenced in the world around us as new life comes in birdsong and a flourishing of the garden and for us at the manse as new baby rabbits appear to eat the grass and new life will come to us too!

Take heart, keep strong and trust in God, he is ever faithful to us.

Prayer

Loving God,

Thank you for loving us with an unconditional and everlasting love and for being with us in this time of exile. May we take hope from your words of love and faithfulness, and from the signs of new life all around us and may we look forward to the day when we can joyfully return from our exile and gather together in joyful worship and celebration of you. Through Jesus Christ our Risen Lord and Saviour we pray. Amen.