Cleaning Up our Mess

by Heather Tietz

Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned against me, and by which they have transgressed against me.

Jeremiah 33:6, 8

When this prophecy in Jeremiah is told, Jerusalem is a mess. Their king is overtaken. Their temple is demolished. Even the shepherds don’t have pasture for their sheep. The Israel people as a group were living in sin; God allowed the Babylonians to overtake them. Here they are suffering a holy spanking of sorts, a heavy-handed time-out. But then, in Jeremiah 33, God reminds His people that He has a loving plan for them. He will bring back peace. He will heal their stubborn hearts so bent on doing wrong. He will forgive them and set them to doing right. He will restore them back to a restored land.

Don’t we all go through times when our lives feel ransacked? Someone’s sin, perhaps our own, has opened the door for chaos. Places or people where we used to find peace are in ruins.

Thank God, He is bigger than our biggest mess! He can restore what has been taken away. He can reorganize. He can clean up. If we will repent, if we turn away from pursuing wrong, God will sweep us back in to His protective care. Yes we can look forward to the inner and outer peace that Heaven will give, but we don’t have to wait that long. God can restore us now too.

Has sin stormed in to your life or in to that of someone you know? Dig out this hope - God has a loving plan. Put yourself back in it!