LOVED BY AND DRAWN TO HIM

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Submitted Date 07/20/2019
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There are some today for whom the nature of Israel as a chosen nation is a sore subject. Those who support the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement would take issue as to the exceptional nature of Israel as God's chosen nation, especially as to its claims to the land it occupies.

While not addressing that directly, it must be said that they misunderstand the eternal nature of the God of Israel and His commitment to His people. Over and over again, throughout both the Old and New Testaments, His love for and commitment to the nation of Israel is clearly expressed. This verse is one brief instance of that expression.

Most of Jeremiah is filled with woes, or warnings, about the bad things which will happen to Israel because of her intransigence and unwillingness to follow Yaweh faithfully. Within and without the nation, skeptics thought that God had abandoned them, never to return again as their Protector and Provider.

In this chapter, God declares through His prophet, Jeremiah, that His is an everlasting love, which has been from of old (began long ago). He says He has loved (and continues to love) them with an never-ending love (until the end of time). As well, He has drawn (and continues to draw) them to Himself; not driving, but drawing them, as a lover might woo their beloved.

An even more poignant example of this dedication is found in Isaiah.

"But Zion said,

'The LORD has forsaken me,

And my Lord has forgotten me.'

'Can a woman forget her nursing child,

And not have compassion on the son of her womb?

Surely they may forget,

Yet I will not forget you.

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Your walls are continually before Me.'" (Isaiah 49:14-16 NKJV)

"I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands," the Lord told His people. This kind of love and compassion extends to us as the adopted seed of Abraham, according to Paul (see his discussions in Romans 4 and elsewhere). We, too, are loved with an everlasting love, continually drawn to the Father's heart. What an amazing thought! God's loving and caring wooing of us is from everlasting to everlasting. O, what a Savior!

(https://pappawpyle.wordpress.com/2019/07/20/loved-by-and-drawn-to-him/)

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