Israel has been given over to the enemy. Their city is burned. They are dead or taken captive. They were deep in sin, even killing their own children for selfish reasons.

God says they have done nothing but anger Him their whole lives. And yet…

He still chooses them. They are still His choice. He doesn’t go somewhere else and pick someone else. They are His people and He is their God. They couldn’t be allowed to continue in their sin. They were killing themselves, literally, and certainly they were spiritually dead going after other gods.

He still chooses them. There is a purpose. Discipline is necessary. We are illegitimate children if we never are disciplined. It’s for a reason. It’s needful. God has good and perfect purposes. He has plans for His children. He has plans for their future. They should hope. He’s not planning their harm. His thoughts toward them are peace.

He is going to gather His children and make a new covenant, a new promise. The Old Covenant was reliant on God’s people obeying. If you obey, then you will be blessed, and I will do all these good promises. But they couldn’t obey. They needed a covenant they couldn’t break.

The New Covenant is one that is totally reliant on God. We just have to believe. We just take it on faith. He does all the work. He’s the author of faith too!

He will cause His children to live in safety. He will be their God. He will give them one heart and one way — Jesus! And He will put the fear of God in their hearts so they won’t turn away, for their good and for their children.

He will make sure they don’t turn away. It will be on Him so we can’t fail. We just have to trust Him to do it. Trying to save ourselves is not going to go well. But each failure is a reminder that we have a God who never fails, a God that we can rely on!

God promises to fulfill all His good promises. He will rejoice in doing us good. That’s the heart of our God.