Praise for the Restored

We Worship God
A Guide for Worship Leaders:
Praise Builds Up

Jeremiah 31:2-9 (The Message)

 ^2-6This is the way God put it:
   "They found grace out in the desert,
   these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest,
   met God out looking for them!"
God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will.
   Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again,
   dear virgin Israel.
You'll resume your singing,
   grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.
You'll go back to your old work of planting vineyards
   on the Samaritan hillsides,
And sit back and enjoy the fruit—
   oh, how you'll enjoy those harvests!
The time's coming when watchmen will call out
   from the hilltops of Ephraim:
'On your feet! Let's go to Zion,
   go to meet our God!'"
 ⁷Oh yes, God says so:
   "Shout for joy at the top of your lungs for Jacob!
   Announce the good news to the number-one nation!
Raise cheers! Sing praises. Say,
   'God has saved his people,
   saved the core of Israel.'
 ⁸"Watch what comes next: "I'll bring my people back
   from the north country
And gather them up from the ends of the earth,
   gather those who've gone blind
And those who are lame and limping,
   gather pregnant women,
Even the mothers whose birth pangs have started,
   bring them all back, a huge crowd!
 ⁹"Watch them come! They'll come weeping for joy
   as I take their hands and lead them,
Lead them to fresh flowing brooks,
   lead them along smooth, uncluttered paths.
Yes, it's because I'm Israel's Father
   and Ephraim's my firstborn son!

For Reflection
Jeremiah lived and wrote at a time when Israel suffered greatly.   He was in the middle of it all, living and writing as a journalist/poet/prophet.  In spite of the devastating catastrophe that confronted him and all of Israel, Jeremiah found hope and urged Israel to praise God.  Expressing great confidence in God's abiding love and protection, he asks ordinary people of God to do something extraordinary.  In spite of the eminent fall of Jerusalem, he asked them to, "Shout for joy at the top of your lungs...raise cheers, sing praises."

How do you hang on hope? Lament or high expectation?

Pray
that you find hope in God's promise of eternal life.  Pray that your hope is bedded in rock solid confidence in the living God.  Pray for the patience to wait for the goodness that surely follows.  Praise God who will make all things right.