Jeremiah 24: 7 – “I will give them a heart to know Me”.

In our hearts God has placed a longing for Him, a longing to seek Him. It does not matter how much we can ignore it or deny its existence but we all know it is there. God is aware of this and He has His reasons for puttying it there and believe you me, IT IS FOR OUR OWN GOOD.

When Gods chosen people were weak and helpless as children, God loved and nourished them. Time and time again, they turned away from Him yet He refused to reject them (His disobedient people). Hosea 11: 8 & 9 reads, “How can I give up Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of My anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not men. The Holy one in your midst and I will not come with terror”. God is mindful of what He can do in His anger as much as He has not forgotten what Israel has done and continues to do YET He just loved them too much to let go of them. As I observe the state of the church today, we are no different now from then YET He loves us too much to let go.

Jeremiah 24: 6 – “For I will set my eyes on them for good and I will bring them back to this land.  I will build them and not pull them down and I will plant and not pluck them”.  What God declares will come to pass. In His might and providence, He sets up one and pulls down another as He pleases. God assured Israel back then that, although unfaithful, His eyes will watch over them for their good, His warmth will be their comfort, His grace and love will be their assurance forever. This is the same assurance He is giving to us, His very heirs and elect today. God wants each one of us to know Him as a father. My husband always says, the greatest tragedy in his life would be for our daughter not to know him as a father. Coming to think of it that would be our daughter’s greatest tragedy as well. God is our Father and He desires each one of us to Know Him as a Father.

Those who know Him and trust in Him, He has promised that He will enable them to stand their ground in all situations. Gods counsel is there to save us but we constantly rely on our own counsel which ruins us. Daniel 11:32 reads, “But the people who know their God shall be strong and do great things”.  After putting a longing in our hearts for Him and deciding that He will give us a heart to Know Him, here in Daniel we get one of many assurances in the bible that God takes pride in owning those who belong to Him and assures them of His protection and strength in all conditions. This fact remains true even today. By His grace He takes away the love and dominion of sin and creates a desire within us for Him, His blessed truth, mercy and love that we may live forever.

One preacher once said, “All errors arise from not knowing the scriptures and the power of God”. How true! As I ponder on this statement I cannot but conclude that this is the reason why God promised to give each one of us a heart that will know Him. He continued to say, “God wants us to make His oracles our standard of truth, duty, foundation of our hope and the light of our paths”.  I need not say more.

Till next time remain strong in the faith.

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