“‘Thus says the LORD: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant […]. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them’” (Jeremiah 33:25-26).
Jeremiah spent much of his ministry warning the people of Jerusalem of the calamity that was about to befall them. If they would only repent, God would spare them. But they mocked him and the God he spoke for, refusing to give up their wicked ways. So God sent them into exile, just as He had promised.
But though Jeremiah prophesied judgment after judgment, he also spoke of a God who remained merciful and gracious. Jeremiah took no pleasure in his warnings of disaster, often weeping over his city and begging God for understanding. In those moments, God answered his honest desperation with straightforward answers. Yes, things were quite bad now. But they would not always be.
Long ago, God had promised Jacob a land. He had promised David that one of his descendants would always sit on the throne of Israel. He had made a covenant with both of them, a covenant that stood as strong as the one He had with day and night. As certain as the day following the night, God would never abandon His people. He was angry with them now, but He would not forsake them.
It was because of this that Jeremiah could write his famous words of God’s enduring faithfulness: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). He knew that God’s salvation would come, because He had promised it. He could hope in it, and he would wait quietly for it, knowing that this night would soon be broken by the coming of day.