Jeremiah 31:15

 Jeremiah 31:15 says, Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.  God spoke of the mourning. or lamentation, and weeping for the children that was coming to the people of Judah.  Verse sixteen adds, Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.  God told the women to dry their tears after they had mourned.  They were not forbidden to mourn Matthew Henry states, but their mourning was not to go on forever.  Our mourning cannot keep us from going on with life.  Verse seventeen declares, And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.  Even though the people thought their children that had been taken from them were no more, God said that there was still hope that in the end they would be returned to them  Even if we lose a child in death, there is hope that we will see them again when God's kingdom comes.  Verse eighteen adds, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.  God said that the people of Ephraim, the other ten tribes Matthew Henry says, would acknowledge their sin and return to God.  They had not accepted His yoke, or lived up to their part in the covenant relationship.  If we are God's people, we will accept His yoke, or be guided by His word in other words.  Verse nineteen states, Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.  The people of Ephraim would repent and turn, away from the sin that had ruled them and to God.  It is not enough to just turn away from one sin if we turn to another.  We must turn to God in repentance and ask for His forgiveness.  Verse twenty asks, Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.  God acknowledges that Ephraim is still His child, and that it troubles Him that He had to chastise him, but that He would have mercy on Ephraim again.  Verse twenty-one declares, Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.  God called on the people of Ephraim to return to His standards, the landmarks He had set.  If we have allowed sin to come into our life as a child of God, we must repent and return to Him.  He has set the landmarks  or guide stones for us to follow.  Verse twenty-two asks, How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.  God asked how long they would go about in sin.  God said He had created a new thing, and many think this is a reference to Christ.  Whether it is or not, we do know that God created a new work through Christ, Who was born of a woman and came to offer the peace of God to the world.  Verse twenty-three declares, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.  God said they would speak of these things in the land of Judah after He restored them.  The nation would no longer be seen as a source of shame.  Verse twenty-four adds, And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.  God said that they would one day once again live a normal life in Judah, just as we will one day live a normal life in the promised land of God if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty-five continues,  For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.  God said that He would replenish every sorrowful soul, and He still will today.  Verse twenty-six concludes, Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.  When we, who are His people, are obedient to His word we are a source of happiness to Him.