The Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. (Deuteronomy 30:1-3)

Where there is repentance there is restoration. When God’s people repent with all their hearts and determine to return to Him and to His ways, the Almighty extends His mercy to them. Think of the Prodigal Son who conceded to serve has father as a servant rather than claiming the position of son. His father wouldn’t hear of it: he immediately restored him to the household and proclaimed that this repentant man was his son. In this display of love and compassion we see the heart of our Heavenly Father. But there is more to it.

Even before Israel went into Canaan, God warned them that the time would come when they would turn to other gods and, as a consequence, be scattered to other other nations to serve those gods. Yet He also told them that there would come a day when a remnant would turn back to Him. When that occurred, God would bring them back into their land —  “I will bring you back from captivity.” Interestingly, the Hebrew wording used here literally means “return” thus implying — at least according to Jewish scholars — that God would return with them from their captivity. In other words, the Hebrew text infers that God was with them, watching over them while they were in exile regardless of how distant the nation. Consequently, when they turn their hearts and faces toward Him to return, He will  gather them and return with them.

No doubt many who are reading this have children or grandchildren who have walked away from the LORD or, in some cases, never knew Him. To you I say this: He knows where they are and what they are doing at this very instant and, with your prayers on their behalf ever before Him, He is able to watch over them during their exile. He is well able to orchestrate events that will compel them to consider how beneficial it was to be with family rather than feeding a bunch of pigs. Even more importantly, He is well able to bring them to the same conclusion proffered by the sons of Korah: “A day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10). Keep believing.

Blessings and Shalom,  

Bill 

Become a Premium Partner

or make a one time gift below.