Jeremiah 31:16, 17
All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)
I was talking to my friend Dex, and he had found online a short blog from Kenneth Copeland Ministries, entitled 8 Promises From God About Your Children. I like the eight Scriptures chosen to highlight these promises, and want to share them with my readers.
I have increasingly heard people question whether it is wise to bring children into this crazy world.
- Inflation is heating up, so the cost of living is increasing (led by gasoline, up 42% from a year ago!)
- Due to the cry to “Defund the police,” and the result of mandated Covid 19 vaccinations,
➔ some cities are facing a reduction of 30% to 50%
of their police force!
➔ Murders are up almost 30% across the US in 2020
from the year before, and the surge is continuing
into 2021.
➔ Overall violent crime (which includes murder, as-
sault, robbery, and rape) was up 5% across the
nation from 2019 through 2020.
- Because of Covid 19 vaccination mandates, fire departments, health care workers, teachers, and other professions are suffering personnel shortages!
- Covid deaths in the US are approaching three quarters of a million people! The per day (seven-day average) in America is just over 1,350, but on October 20th there were over 2,500 deaths reported!
- Racism is on the rise with versions of Critical Race Theory being taught in many schools.
- Research by Barna found that only about 16% of people born after World War II have a world view grounded in the Bible!
- 70% of babies born to black women are born out of wedlock! All ethnic groups combined birth 40% of babies out of wedlock!
- Almost three quarters of a million divorces were reported last year! People are increasingly opting for arrangements of living together rather than marrying.
- It is expected that Social Security and Medicare will both run out of money in the not too distant future!
- Another ‘cold war’ is heating up, this time with China. And it has the potential to turn into a ‘hot war’!
Not only are people worried about starting or growing a family, they are also searching for the best way to guide children who are already part of the family! But Paul reminds us in Romans 15:4, “…whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of Scripture might have hope.” God’s Word is true, and it will not fail! So let’s look at these eight promises (and I will add one more, making it nine!).
This will take several more Gems!
Number 1: Jeremiah 31:16 and 17 – “Thus says the LORD: ‘Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the LORD, that your children shall come back to their own border.”
➔ The enemy is the devil! As it says in...
✞ John 8:44 – “He is a murderer from the begin-
ning, and does not stand in the truth because
there is no truth in him. When he speaks a
lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he
is a liar and the father of it.”
✞ II Corinthians 4:4 (King James Version) –
Satan is called “...the god of this world
[who]...blinded the minds of them that be-
lieve not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine unto them.”
He is the god of this world system because he stole
the rulership of this world from our first parents!
(see Genesis 3:1-7; Luke 4:5-7).
✞ I Peter 5:8 and 9 – “Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil walks about
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may de-
vour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith....”
✞ Learn what the Bible says about our enemy,
and how to fight and win spiritual battles!
➔ The land of the enemy is the world, and the
things of the world! So many follow this path
and end up losing everything! As it says in
I John 2:15 through 17:
Do not love the world or the things in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. For all that
is in the world — the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life
— is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world is passing away, and the lust
of it; but he who does the will of God a-
bides forever.
➔ Jesus warned us in Mark 8:36 to follow Him all
the way to the cross: “For what will it profit
a man if he gains the whole world, and loses
his own soul...?” Follow Him, even though it
means dying to self so we can live for Him!
(see Mark 8:34, 35; Romans 6:1-14).
➔ The Lord can bring our children home even from
a far land, just like he did for the wayward
son who wasted his inheritance, and ended up
starving as he fed pigs!
✞ When he came home, his father received
him with open arms! (see Luke 15:11-24)
✞ ...just like God will receive us! (see
John 6:37).
The context of Jeremiah 31:16 and 17 is the restoration of Israel, as the LORD said in verse 1: “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people....” Jeremiah was to let the Israelites know who were taken captive to Babylon know that God would redeem them and bring them back to their homeland! But...
➔ ...like many Bible passages, there is an
interpretation (speaking to the Jews).
➔ ...and there is an application (speaking
to all believers today).
Your children (my grandchildren and great grandchildren) may be off somewhere in their own ‘Babylon,’ captive to the enemy but not really happy where they are! God can give them a hunger to come ‘home’ to Him, and live the life He has planned for them!
Keep praying for your children
to be gathered back from the enemy’s captivity,
to ‘home’ where they will find and
embrace their heritage of faith!