Relationship Has Its' Benefits

Relationship Has Its' Benefits

In the 1990’s, American Express has a slogan that said “Membership has it’s privileges.”  All of the Lessons this month in Jeremiah teach us that being in relationship with God has great benefits for us.

We often say “hindsight is 20/20” or “if I knew then what I know now” – and our meaning is that we would have made different decisions if we had the information we now have. God has perfect knowledge and the Bible refers to this as foreknowledge.

Way back in Deuteronomy 31 which happened around 1500-1200 BC, God tells Moses that after his death the Israelites will disobey the covenant God established with them and ‘go whoring’ after other Gods.  

The question is why – knowing what the Israelites were going to do – would God continue to put up with these stubborn, disobedient, hard-headed folks?

The answer lies in the covenant relationship God established with Israel first through Abraham and later Moses.  You respond differently when in a relationship with someone. Imagine you call your bank and find out someone has used your debit card and charged $150.  If it was a stranger, your next call would probably be to the police. But if you found out it was your teenage son or daughter, you would take a different strategy for handling it.  Our response to the situation depends on our relationship with the perpetrator.

When God has a relationship with someone, He chooses to deal with us according to His love.

But we must not take God’s love for granted. His love reveals itself in both favor and also in judgement.

After the kingdom was divided, God warned Israel & Judah through various prophets that their actions were leading to judgement. The people of the day assumed that their position as God’s chosen people would absolve them of their sins and that no punishment would come to them: 

Boy were they wrong. God gave them time to repent of their idolatry but when they did not the corrective punishment came. Around 721 BC, Israel was invaded by Assyria and in 587 BC, Judah was invaded by Babylon and many Jews were exiled.

Yet, even in judgement God’s loving relationship with us matters. Even as God was decreeing judgement because of sin, He also spoke of a future time of restoration:

God’s relationship to individuals and nations reflects the relationship they have with Him:

David & Saul – In 1 Samuel 7:14 & 15: The Lord tells David through Nathan the prophet that his son will be the one to build the temple. He then says “and I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.”

Relationship has its Benefits - Related Verses

Psalm 103:2 – 5 KJV – (2) Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

(3) Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; (4) Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; (5) Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

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