Steadfast Weaving

Weaving Old and New

Psalm 119:76 ESV 

Hosea 3:1 MSG

Jeremiah 13:17 MSG

Lamentations 1:6

Titus 3:4-7 MSG

The whole of scripture is without error or waste of words and one word builds on the other.

We notice throughout scripture even in their unfaithfulness God continued to love and cherish Israel as His own. God was faithful to Israel.

Under the old covenant we are told in Psalm 119:76, “Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant.”

The prophets and the children of God loved God and relied on God’s steadfast love. The prophets relied on God’s love to lead him.

Hosea the prophet was commanded to marry an unfaithful woman. That seems like it could have been a mistake but even in that God had a purpose. Hosea’s relationship with an unfaithful wife symbolized Israel’s unfaithful acts.

In Hosea 3:1 we are told, “Then God ordered me, “Start all over: Love your wife again, your wife who’s in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife. Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people, even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.”

Hosea knew the pain of “unfaithful”. He KNEW the pain of it.

Jeremiah the Prophet was a faithful servant of God. Even though he faced persecution, imprisonment, and rejection he remained faithful. Jeremiah had warned Israel. He repeated the warning. As difficult as it was for Jeremiah, he continued to repeat the warning.

In 597 B.C. Babylon came and seized Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar II marched on Israel and demanded a tribute be paid on Israel which led to another demand. When that tribute was not paid Jerusalem was destroyed and thousands of Israel’s brightest and best were deported to Babylonian.

In Jeremiah 13:17 we are told he said, “if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock has been taken captive.”

God was steadfast to Israel and captives that were deported were allowed to return home when the Persians defeated the Babylonians in 537 B.C.

In Lamentations 1:16 we read, “For all this I weep, weep buckets of tears, and not a soul within miles around cares for my soul. My children are wasted, my enemy got his way.” (It’s widely thought that Jeremiah did not see Israel again and he was the author of Lamentations.)

Hosea and Jeremiah are not the only examples of prophets who suffered but even in their suffering, God was with them.

God continued to be steadfast. There was a plan for those who turn to God.

In Titus 3:4-7 we are told, “when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

When we turn…ever so slightly and we are open to the holy presence of God, by mercy we receive grace.

Hosea and Jeremiah knew God would come. They didn’t know when, but they believed that God’s love would triumph.

Deborah

acrazyjourney.com