The Yearning Heart of God

Jeremiah 31:18–20 ESV

I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God. For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord.

Structure of this passage

Ephraim is being used of the northern 10 tribes of Israel.

Ephraim recognizes God’s discipline (v. 18)

I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God.

God had promised to Israel that if they did not obey Him He would discipline them.

Israel recognizes that they have been disciplined - they refer to themselves as an untrained calf.

Israel asks God to bring them back that they may be restored, for you are the LORD my God.

We have a parallel passage in Lamentations 5:21-22.

Lamentations 5:21–22 ESV

Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old— unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

Ephraim repents for their sin (v. 19)

For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

Israel confesses that they “turned away” - this is a statement of rebellion against God.

After this act of rebellion they relented - they stopped doing what which was forbidden, they received instruction, and they showed remorse (what striking the thigh signifies).

They are confessing that though they sinned they are returning to God.

God responds in mercy (v. 20)

Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord.

God begins with a question, Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child?

His people are his “dear son” and even his “darling child.”

Does your doctrine of God have room for Him speaking like that?

God confesses to Israel that He had never stopped loving them.

The words God uses is His heart (literally, bowels) yearns for Israel.

God then declares that He will certainly have mercy on them.

Yes, God had brought judgement on them but not because He is in rage but because He loves so much.

His remembrance is not because God did not know, or He had forgotten; this word is relational and covenantal. Remember is the opposite of forsake.

My Heart Yearns For Him

Scripture uses anthropomorphism to describe God: the hand of God, the eye of God, and, even, the heart of God.

God is a Spirit…as a result He has no body.

The word “heart” is different than Lamentations 3:33, He does not afflict from his heart. This word is better rendered “bowels or guts” - this is the case with the AV. The CSB offers the best rendering:

Jeremiah 31:20 CSB

Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to me, a delightful child? Whenever I speak against him, I certainly still think about him. Therefore, my inner being yearns for him; I will truly have compassion on him. This is the Lord’s declaration.

Ortlund notes that this is God’s way of speaking of his innermost reflex, his churning insides, his deepest feelings of which our emotions are an image.

Calvin, in his commentary, reminds us that to speak of God’s bowels or heart “does not properly belong to God,” but this in no way dilutes the truth that God is communicating truly “the greatness of his love towards us.”

Consider Luke 1:78 and Romans 9:15:

Luke 1:78 ESV

because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

Romans 9:15 ESV

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

When Thomas Goodwin spoke of this passage,

There is comfort concerning such infirmities, in that your very sins move him to pity more than to anger.…

Christ takes part with you, and is far from being provoked against you, as all his anger is turned upon your sin to ruin it;

yea, his pity is increased the more towards you, even as the heart of a father is to a child that has some loathsome disease, or as one is to a member of his body that has leprosy,

he hates not the member, for it is his flesh, but the disease, and that provokes him to pity the part affected the more.

What shall not make for us, when our sins, that are both against Christ and us, shall be turned as motives to him to pity us the more?

How Should This Change My Life?

Ray Ortlund in his book on the Gospel published by 9 Marks quotes Francis Shaefer:

One cannot explain the explosive dynamite, the dunamis, of the early church apart from the fact that they practiced two things simultaneously: orthodoxy of doctrine and orthodoxy of community in the midst of the visible church, a community which the world could see.

Ortlund goes on to state:

Gospel doctrine ˗ gospel culture = hypocrisy (dead Christianity)

Gospel culture ˗ gospel doctrine = fragility (anemic Christianity)

Gospel doctrine + gospel culture = power (true Christianity)

"Several years ago, author Anne Rice said, “Christians have lost credibility in America as people who know how to love"

Says Ortlund, "The gospel is good news, and these momentous words have to be the best news: “For God so loved the world …” (John 3:16a). Yet for this verse to make the impact on us it deserves, we must understand two things: who this God is and how he loves this world.

First, who is this God? The word God is so familiar to us that we might gloss over it. But we need to think about it. Not one of us has ever had a single thought about God that was fully fair to the magnitude of who he really is. Who is the God of the Christian gospel?"

How Do I View Discipline?

God has to discipline us when we continue in sin - just like Israel we can stray from God; we can be disciplined but never become enemies of God.

We can believe God disciplines because He is mad - not because He is gentle and gracious.

How Do I View God’s Response To Sin?

We tend to separate our sins from our sufferings - both are a result of the Fall.

We have a hard time believing God is gentle towards our sins just as He is gentle towards our sufferings; we want to put sins in a category that only elicits wrath.

Do I Believe God Has Room To Love Sinners?

Perhaps, you say, of course.

We are commanded to be godly, that means that we reflect God; how do you respond to sinners?

Do you fear sinners?

Do you loath sinners?

Do you create occasions to add to the sin of others - it is only because you wish to put your own person in a better state.

How should we respond to sinners?

Give them the Word

Give them an accurate view of the acceptance of God to all those who come to Him in faith and repenting of sin.

Do you have small thoughts of God’s heart?

God speaks against sin but he also speaks for the sinner repenting and believing in Jesus

Do you really believe if God is for us who can be against us? Including the Father?

Repent of your small thoughts of God’s heart