15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.

— Isaiah 49:15-16

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

— Deuteronomy 31:6

24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

27 And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules.

28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

— Ezekiel 36:24-28

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

Due to Israel’s persistent sin, Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed and the Israelites scattered. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah show us how God intervened to recover what sin had stolen from the Israelites. The Israelites exiles, as God had promised and planned, returned to rebuild their homeland, and God restored the temple and prescribed worship expected of His covenant people. Though God’s elect and we, the believers of Jesus the Lord, will continue to fail, God steadfastly upholds His promises, never abandoning His people or the commitments He has made to them.

For those who belong to God, disobedience brings discipline but not disqualification. Ultimately, faithfulness to God requires the internal transformation Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied. The Son of God would take on flesh to redeem a people for God from every tribe and nation. God’s own Spirit would accomplish within broken people what their human efforts could not. We praise God for His faithfulness and unfailing love to bring us the salvation and to make us qualified for building His eternal temple – His kingdom.