For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.
– Jeremiah 30:3
So this is the word from God through Jeremiah at the beginning of Jeremiah 30, “I’m going to restore the fortunes of my people”. And the next two chapters are filled with just amazing promises and pictures of God’s love and restoration, and redemption.
So I listed out just in these two chapters alone, 52 different pictures of God’s provision for his people. And it’s just one after another after another. So I’m going to pray through them. And if you have time, go back and read Jeremiah 30–31, and you can see all these there.
Jeremiah 30:3 shows the hope of future restoration for God’s people.
I’m just going to pray based on the words that God speaks to his people in Jeremiah 30–31. Knowing, and this is part of Jeremiah 31, that all these things are available to us in the new covenant. And ultimately in Jesus and in conformity to his image, and in eternal life with him.
So yes, the context is different, like God’s not bringing us back to a land. But he is taking us to a much better land. And he promises all these things to us along the way when we get there. So let me just lead us to pray based on God’s Word to his people in Jeremiah 30–31.
God, we praise you for your promise to restore the fortunes of your people. We praise you that you keep all your promises. God, we praise you that you break the yoke and you burst the bonds of slavery. We praise you for being with us to save us.
Lord, we praise you for removing all fear from those who trust in you. We praise you for disciplining in justice, for defending your people, for your promise to ultimately restore our health, our bodies. Lord, we praise you for how you heal wounds, how you care for the outcast, for how you honor your people, how you establish your people. We praise you for your holiness and your wrath and your anger.
Jeremiah 30:3 reminds us that God rebuilds what sin and suffering have torn down.
And God, we thank you for your promise to give us rest in you. We praise you for your everlasting love, a never-ending love, and your constant faithfulness for how you rebuild the broken. How you give mercy to the hurting, how you lead us in straight paths. How you shepherd us as your people. You ransom your people, you redeem your people from hands too strong for them.
Your goodness makes us radiant. You keep us from languishing, you cause us to dance. You turn our morning into joy. God, thank you for your promise to turn our morning into joy, for turning sorrow into comfort and gladness, for satisfying us with your goodness, for your promise to bring an end to our tears, to reward us by your grace, to give us hope for our future.
This verse anchors our hope in God’s power to rebuild lives.
We thank you, God, for how you hear our grieving and minister to us in the middle of it. We praise you for instructing us, for remembering us, for your heart that yearns for us, for your power to take the old and make it new. You are the Lord of a host, you make us holy, you make us righteous. Lord, you satisfy our weary souls. You replenish our languishing souls. You give us pleasant sleep, you build us up, you plant us, and you’re a Husband to us. We are your Bride.
You put your Law within us on our hearts. God, you give light to the sun, you fix the order of the moon and the stars. You stir up the sea so that its waves roar. Your promises are never failing. You are my God. You are our God. We belong to you. You forgive our sins and remember our iniquities no more. And we walk in the knowledge of a love relationship with you. Oh God, all glory be to your name. Help us to live in light of all these realities today, and help us to spread your glory wherever we go today, and among all the nations. We pray this in Jesus’ name, in the name of One who makes all of this possible for us. Amen.