Your Children Will Come Back To You - The One Year Praying through the Bible for Your Kids

This is what the LORD says:

“Do not weep any longer,

for I will reward you,” says the LORD.

“Your children will come back to you

from the distant land of the enemy.

There is hope for your future,” says the LORD.

“Your children will come again to their own land.

I have heard Israel saying,

‘You disciplined me severely,

like a calf that needs training for the yoke.

Turn me again to you and restore me,

for you alone are the LORD my God.’” Jeremiah 31:16-18

IN JEREMIAH we get to look into a tender scene in which a father welcomes home his wayward child after years of separation. It’s like an Old Testament Prodigal Son story. Through his prophet, the Lord reveals the turning that will take place in his rebellious child. We hear the son, Israel, express appreciation for his Father’s discipline, sorrow over the way he turned away from his Father, shame over what he did in his younger days, and a desire for restoration (verses 18-19).

And then we hear the Father speak to the son. But it’s not what we might expect from the spurned Father. No “I told you so” or “What took you so long?” Instead God speaks to Israel as his “darling child” (verse 20), expressing his longing to show mercy, his welcome home, his assurance of grace. The Father promises that he “will cause something new to happen —Israel will embrace her God” (verse 22).

How beautiful is the Father heart of God toward his rebellious children: “I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That’s why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him” (verse 20).

Father God, when our children disobey us, how we long for our hearts toward them to be as loving and merciful as your heart is toward your children when they disobey you. You discipline, but you still love. You long to show mercy. Fill us with the wisdom and will to discipline but also the heart to love and the words to woo.