But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. – Jeremiah 12:15

Today's Scripture Reading (April 9, 2020): Jeremiah 12

Part of the international struggle that currently appears to be playing itself out on the world stage is the reforming of ancient borders. The World Map has changed dramatically, even just over the length of my life. As a child, I had a map of the world that hung proudly on my bedroom wall. But that map, if it still existed, would now be obsolete. Nations have emerged that did not exist when I was a child. Other countries, like Czechoslovakia, have split into smaller kingdoms, reflecting states that once existed, but that have ceased to exist through the flipping pages of history. Our modern understanding is that one nation does not have the right to acquire by force the territory of another sovereign nation. Any joining of countries must be the result of a joint decision between the two nations. And in the Middle East, struggles emerge as more than one group of people lay a historical claim on the same piece of land.

This modern understanding regarding the land, which gives rise to the world's nations, has not always been the reality. In ancient times, Empires were built by annexing the territory of neighboring countries by force. In the first century, Israel disappeared from the world map as a direct result of its conflict with the Roman Empire. Maybe the most recent example of this, and the one that threw my childhood map into disarray, was the presence, and then the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a twentieth-century Russian led Empire. The Empire disappeared in the latter days of the twentieth century, as the various individual sovereign nations regained control over their countries.

Recognizing the ancient practice of Empire building, the words of Jeremiah here sound more almost contemporary. God, speaking through Jeremiah, indicates that it is not just Israel that inhabits a "Promised Land" that is a gift from God. Each nation occupies its own space. And while the time comes when the nations will be uprooted, the time will also arrive when the countries will find their way back to the home that God has provided for them. And it might be this process of people finding their way back to their native lands that is at work today, transforming map of the world. And if that is it, then there is still a lot of work to be done, as God brings the people of the world home once more.

And this is an act of his compassion and his love for all of the people of the earth. All of the earth is chosen by him, loved by him, and ultimately protected by him. We are all his, and he wants what is best for all of us.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 23