When we are astray from God, we will feel lost and are ashamed and longed to be home. But also we will be disciplined and punished by Him as well.
Due to their rebellion against God, the Israelites were exiles. They woke each morning yearning to return, but they had no way to rescue themselves. Thankfully, God promised He’d not forgotten them. “I will restore them because I have compassion on them.” (Zechariah 10:6) Because God has mercy on them (Zechariah 10:8-9) “I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before. Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return.”
Our sense of exile may come because of our bad decisions or hardships beyond our control. Either way, God hasn’t forgotten us. He knows our desire and will call to us. And if we answer, we’ll find ourselves returning to Him—returning home.
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