25 They will live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where their ancestors lived. They will live on it, they and their children and their grandchildren, forever. My servant David will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace for them. It will be their covenant forever. I will grant it to them and allow them to increase. I will set my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling will be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 The nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.
Reflection
“I will be their God, and they will be my people.” This is a recurring theme of the scriptures. A quick search reveals maybe a dozen references to this same phrase throughout the Bible.
But it begs the question, why “will be”? Isn’t God already their God? Aren’t they/we already God’s people?
The answer is, of course! We already are God’s people.
The question is: do we realize it? Do we live like it?
I think this “will be” is there to remind us that God longs for a better world in exactly the same way we do. God longs to see us do right. God longs to see us show compassion on our fellow humans. God longs to see us love each other as Christ has loved us.
God has already promised to be our God. How will we God’s people today?
By Joe Monahan
For Pondering & Prayer
This passage reminds us that God’s Creation, just like each one of us, is always in the process of becoming something more. We will always be failing, but always learning and always growing into what it means to be the people of God. During this time of quarantine, what are you learning about what it means to live as a follower of God?
Prayer: We thank you, Lord, that you call us by your name – that we are your people and that you are our God. Do not let us despair of our shortcomings and failures. Remind us that we are all growing into the people you have called us to be. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Comments are closed.