“I have loved you with an everlasting love…” — Jeremiah 31:3

Reading: Jeremiah 31:3, 31-34

Reflection:

My favorite devotional book is The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Prayer was the strength of Puritan life. The opening line of the title prayer is Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths, but see thee in the heights.  

This Easter season is like no Easter season in our lifetimes. A raging virus stalks the planet threatening our worldview, our lives, our opportunity to gather for worship, our wealth, and our health. The future is not clear to us. We seem to be in a foggy valley, yet God’s love embraces and surrounds us.

In Jeremiah 31, God proclaims a new covenant with Israel. They will be his people, he will have mercy on them, and he will make them secure. God will keep his covenant promise no matter what Israel has done. God’s promise of his loving faithfulness now extends to the new Israel, his church through Jesus our Savior.

Jeremiah 31:3 says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Everlasting means eternal, forever. We were loved by him before we were born. To paraphrase Henri Nouwen, God’s everlasting love for Christians is the basis of our identity. This is who we are. We belong to God for eternity, since before we were born: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). As Nouwen puts it, our lives are an opportunity to say, “I love you, too.”

During this Easter season, Jesus is doing what he did for his first disciples; he is going ahead of us. He is looking for his disciples in our time, even though we are caught in the grim discomfort of social distancing. He will come and stand among us offering his presence and his peace. He will stand with us against every force that challenges his ultimate authority.

Response:

Jonathan Edwards, America’s greatest theologian and key leader of the first Great Awakening, observed, When God has something very great to accomplish for his church, it is his will that there should precede it the extraordinary prayers of his people…. When God is about to accomplish great things for his church, he will begin by remarkably pouring out the spirit of grace and supplication. 

During this season of Easter, join with me in praying for a new Great Awakening in our nation and around the world. And for ourselves, pray the prayer below from The Valley of Vision:

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin, I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.

(Add your own praise and petitions.)