The Promise after Discipline

Our God is a Holy God, that's why He will definitely cleanse His people. Our God is also a merciful and loving God, therefore He will also save His people. When we (the people of God) sin, He will discipline us. His motive of disciplining us is to cleanse our hearts towards Him. Why does God allow the Israelites to be enslaved for 70 years, to endure all the oppression? Why is God so strict on His people? The holiness that God demands from His people is different from what the worldly people demands. Those people view holiness as good works, kindness, etc. But what God demands from His people is the same as what a husband demands from his wife -faithfulness. The same kind of faithfulness. God didn't only see the physical sin of His people but also their disbelief and unwillingness to rely on God ( they rely on the idols, the foreigners...). These are the sins of man and He is determined to remove it from them. 

When a person has the heart that purely loves God, he will posses all sorts of righteousness that far exceeds man's righteousness. However, when a man does not love God, he posses an evil heart.

So, God's discipline is a must. 

In the book of Jeremiah, God used the people of Babylon to discipline His people. In today's context, the Babylonians represent the powerful, wealthy, famous people in this world but they are only tools used by God. The people whom God loves is us, not those tools. So as soon as the heart of His people changes, He will punish the Babylonians ( the world). 

Jeremiah 50:18-20

18 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 

 I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria. 

Both Babylon and Assyria were destroyed and this is the truth.

Most importantly, we shouldn't harbor any grudges toward the people who did wrong to us. God will definitely resolve it. 

Secondly, God said the He will bring His people back to their own pasture. 

19 But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture verse, and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan; their appetite will be satisfied. 

It means that God wants to use His words to satisfy us. When we love the world and disobey God, we actually never feel satisfied. We chase after the worldly things that would only end up increasing our burdens. We always demand others of their love because we don't feel satisfied. We might have even gained a lot but those needs and desires don't seem to be satisfied. The only way for man to be truly satisfied is to be close to God's word. When a man cannot be satisfied or contented with God's word and unable to find joy in it, he can never be satisfied. The truth is there is no other things that can satisfy us. When the hearts of those who have been disciplined change to loving God's word again, they are protected. 

Lastly, God says that the Israelites will not have any sins anymore. 

20 In those days, at that time,'' declares the LORD, 'search will be made for Israel's guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare. 

What does this mean? Does it mean that we will never sin anymore?or we can do everything rightly from now on? No. It means that the people of God has got a heart of repentance. Those who realized that they are sinning and repent are without any sins anymore. On the other hand, if we still think that we are not wrong, then the sin remains. All those who are in Christ, we know our sins and are willing to repent so God sees us as without sin. 

And may we all see His greater love in His discipline.

When I first heard the message on Monday, I was a bit afraid. I know I have drifted away from God again and did many things which I am not supposed to. I was scared at the thought of being disciplined by God and I know He must discipline me because He is a righteous God. But when I restored the truth in me, I remembered the Fatherly love He has for me. Just like my dad, no matter how many times I hurt him, he will still forgive me. He knows that I feel bad  for uttering those hurtful words. So, He will add insult to injury by punishing me and say more hurtful things to me.  And in this message, I know how important it is to repent before God. It seems like the most natural thing to do for Christians but yet at times after I repent, the guilt still lingers in me and I feel as though that its not good enough. True enough that at times, there would be some consequences from our actions. 

But now I know that God sees me as without sin and I am protected when I truly repent. And again, its not about our works- what we can do to undo the mistakes or made it up by doing something extra. It's not karma. I thank God for the gift of Holy Spirit that would naturally prompt me to repent each time I sin and made be sensitive to sin. We have the desire to draw closer to God just that our flesh will try every way to stop us. We may get tempted and went to love the world for awhile but His love will always bring us back to Him. Even though that it may be through discipline at times but His grace and love will be suffice for us to go through it. Most importantly, His promise to us never changes.