Scripture Daily

Context No. 2201 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 31:7-14: in context

7For the LORD says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’ 8Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company. 9They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn. 10“Hear the LORD’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’ 11For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. 12They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all. 13Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says the LORD.

In a season of exile and grief, Jeremiah is given a promise of restoration overflowing with joy. God will gather his scattered people from the ends of the earth, lead them by streams of water, shepherd them like a flock. And the promise reaches its height in a word about their sorrow: I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and give them gladness for their sorrow. Their soul will be like a watered garden, and they will languish no more. God promises to turn mourning itself into joy.

The promise to hold is this: I will turn their mourning into joy, and comfort them, and give them gladness for their sorrow. God does not merely promise to end their mourning, as though it would simply cease; he promises to turn it into joy, to transform the very sorrow into gladness. The mourning itself becomes the material of joy; the sorrow is not just removed but transformed. And the image is of a parched soul becoming a watered garden, the dry and sorrowful life made fresh, green, and fruitful again. God is the one who turns mourning into joy. This holds a hope for our own seasons of mourning and sorrow. We can feel, in grief, that the sorrow is permanent, that mourning is our settled state, that joy is gone for good. And God's promise is that he turns mourning into joy, that our present sorrow is not the end, that he can transform even our grief into gladness. You turned my mourning into dancing, the psalmist says; the very mourning became dancing. Your sorrow, Jesus tells his disciples, will be turned into joy. God does not merely offer to distract us from sorrow or wait for it to pass, but promises to turn it into joy, to make the parched soul a watered garden. This does not deny the reality of present mourning; the sorrow is real, and God does not pretend otherwise. But it sets our mourning within a promise: that God turns mourning into joy, that grief is not the final word, that he can transform even our sorrow into gladness. The soul that is now parched and sorrowful can become a watered garden; the mourning can be turned to joy. This gives hope to those who mourn. If we are in grief and sorrow, feeling that mourning is permanent and joy is gone, we may hold to God's promise: he turns mourning into joy, comforts the sorrowful, gives gladness for grief, makes the parched soul a watered garden. Our present mourning is not the end; God is the one who turns it into joy. This calls us to hope in the God who transforms sorrow. God promised his mourning people that he would turn their mourning into joy and make their soul a watered garden; and he is still the God who turns mourning into joy, so that we may hope, even in our grief, in the God who does not merely end sorrow but transforms it into gladness.

When I am in grief and sorrow, feeling that mourning is permanent and joy is gone for good, can God's promise that he will turn mourning into joy, comfort the sorrowful, and give gladness for sorrow, making the parched soul a watered garden, give me hope that my present mourning is not the end, and that God is the one who does not merely end sorrow but transforms it into joy, so that I hope in him even in my grief?

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