So this past month I was trying to find a book in the Old Testament I had not read yet, and as I flipped through the pages of my Bible I came across Jeremiah.

Now my first thought was that Jeremiah is a book about the destruction of Israel... Sounds like a great book to read before bed.

I was just about to change my mind and look at a different book when I decided to give it a shot and was quite surprised by what I found hidden amongst the messages of destruction.

I found hope.

Because you see, even amidst these prophesies of destruction and devastation, there is a thread that shines through. That thread is the never-failing love of a great and mighty God.

Over and over again He pleads with the people to repent and to follow Him, He tells them that He will spare them if they will only repent. He tells them that there is a deadline coming up and He pleads with them to repent before it so He can cause the coming destruction to pass over them.

But they don't.

And even after their time runs out in which He could stop the destruction, He still pleads with them to repent so He can strengthen them and hold them in His hands as they go through the devastation. He still wishes to be their guiding light and their pillar of strength despite the trouble and pain they have brought on themselves.

At first glance the book of Jeremiah may just be about the destruction of Israel but the further one delves into it the more one sees that this is truly a book about the hope God gives to those who love Him.

In chapter 24 Jeremiah has a vision in which he sees a basket of figs, half are good and half are bad. As he looks at them God explains to Jeremiah that the figs are the people of Israel, the good figs are the people who are going to be taken captive who will remain good and that God himself would ensure they saw their homeland again. But in the same way God told Jeremiah that the bad figs would get worse and would pass away before the time came to go back to their homeland.

We are just like those figs, we have to keep believing and we have to keep seeking God with all our hearts. If we don't we will become as the spoiled figs, we will slowly deteriorate until there is nothing left of ourselves.

All throughout Jeremiah there are shining verses of hope and the promise that there is indeed a loving and powerful God who is watching out for us.