I have dearly loved you from of old, and still I maintain my unfailing care for you.
Jeremiah 31.3

This oracle comes from the incomparably great prophecy of the restoration of Israel that forms the peak of Jeremiah's ministry. He had for so long earnestly besought the recalcitrant people to repent of their apostasies and return to the Lord, in the end predicting an inevitable fall of the country to the Babylonian invaders. At that juncture he had advised surrender to the superior forces of the enemy as the only way of national survival, but his pains met only with accusations of betrayal and treason. The fate of the country was indeed sealed, and it was those who were carried away captive to Babylon that were to form the nucleus of the renewed community in Palestine after Cyrus the Persian had sent them back home.

How strange the love of God must have seemed both to Jeremiah and the survivors of the devastated community! They had broken their side of the covenant, and God's apparent wrath had descended on them. The love of God, the source of all human love, is modified by the law which controls the universe. Psalm 19 juxtaposes the law whereby the cosmos is maintained with the law that Moses brought down to the Israelites from Mount Sinai during the period of the exodus from Egypt. They are the same law, perfect in design, and there to order the whole creation aright. If the law is transgressed, punishment is inevitable. This applies to the civil law of the land no less than to the laws that control the earth's movements or the disposition of the weather. God does not alter the workings of the world to suit the creature's vagaries. "Make no mistake about this: God is not to be fooled; a man reaps what he sows" (Gal. 6.7). The law of cause and effect cannot be revoked without a collapse into chaos of the cosmic order.

Fortunately this is not the end of the matter, otherwise the human species would long ago have disappeared from the face of the earth. We have been fashioned in the divine image, so that we are able to know God in mystical union and also to work with him in the constant creation of the world by means of our intellectual ability. When we have transgressed and suffered accordingly, our hubris is torn open, and we can at last come back to our Creator in humble penitence. The love of God is as constant as the sun's rays on our little world, and once we have left our own selfishness behind, we are able to receive the healing embrace which is comparable to the welcome home given the Prodigal Son by his father (Luke 15.22-4).

It is clear from the history of the Jews from the time of Moses and even before, that God had a special work for them to do. They were to proclaim his love and the law on which it was based, eventually forming the body of Jesus, the Word made flesh that was to reconcile all creation to its Creator. Thus Jeremiah attains a peak of inspiration with the wonderful prophecy of the new covenant between God and humanity, "I will set my law within them and write it on their hearts; I will become their God and they shall become my people" (Jer. 31.33). This is the proof of God's love for us, his unfailing care that is still maintained even when we, in thoughtless folly, break off communication with him. It could even be said that our sad experiences of the past, once repented of in an earnest intention of doing better in the future, help to mould a finer character. A comparison with the Jews entering the Promised Land under Joshua and the remnant returning some 700 years later illustrates this theme (the matter has been discussed in "The Might of the Holy Spirit", above, pages 46-7).

God's love never fails, since true love never comes to an end (1 Cor. 13.8). Even if our day has been a minor disaster in terms of integrity impugned and relationships damaged, we can still retire in confidence once we have confessed our sins to God. He will support us for the coming of a new day.

Lord, I thank you that you still love me when I am closed to the love of everyone. Make me so open to your love deep in my heart that I may overflow in love to everyone I meet in my daily endeavours.