Let Your face shine on Your servant; save me in Your unfailing love. Psalm 31:16.

Now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You. Psalm 39:7 NASB.

May Your unfailing love be my comfort, according to Your promise to Your servant. Psalm 119:76.

Jeremiah 9 is a painful chapter to read. If it were only about an ancient people long dead and buried, it would be just an account of events, a lesson for then. And until we grasp the pervasiveness of sin today, our hearts won’t break as did Jeremiah’s heart for the people of his day. Our hearts won’t break as does the heart of Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. When I experience pain for those I love, my soul feels raw. And I realize on a very personal level, that God is with me in the dark valleys and barren wilderness of this world devoid of His love and truth, of His help. Giving God every worry is my safe place, my sanctuary, because I am not strong but our God is. “They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge Me,” declares the Lord…”You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge Me,” declares the Lord…”See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of My people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully…Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?…v. 3, 6, 7, 9. It goes on, with verses that will break your heart; but will they bring you understanding? Sin is not God’s Love. Sin breaks people…God’s Love heals. This is what the Lord says, “Let not the wise boast for their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh – Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” v. 23-26.

God is not about ritual. He is about relationship and trust. He has always done what is unexpected by us. Why should we be surprised? Let God be your help and trust Him for the changes He will bring to your understanding of Him. There is so much we don’t understand. Let the Light of His Love penetrate the darkness of this world steeped in sins and know He has you. Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. John 17:3.