Jeremiah 31:7-14: Protected From Our Bad Decisions

This is what the Lord says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

“Hear the word of the Lord, you nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’ For the Lord will deliver Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they. They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord—the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the Lord. - Jeremiah 31:7-14

"Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. They will come with weeping..." Rough situation, full of the broken and vulnerable. The people ask God, "save your people!" God responds that he will save them. It is notable that in his response that the groups he highlights as returning are the "blind", the "lame", the "expectant mothers" and "women in labor". None of these seems like ready contributors to the restored Israel.

But Isaiah makes a point that the vulnerable and impaired are part of the 'flock' that God is redeeming. God isn't redeeming the strong. He is redeeming those whom he has chastised. It says that it was God "who scattered Israel" and it was God who redeemed them from the hand of those "stronger than they." 

That is: they were all among the vulnerable and impaired. They were all part of the "weak" and they are now all part of the "redeemed" and all part of the "blessed". 

There are many Christians who forget that they were also part of the weak, impaired and vulnerable and didn't make the transition to redeemed without God's help. There is a sort of spiritual amnesia that makes believers forget so completely what they experienced that they won't let others commit the same mistakes that they themselves made and, in many cases, still continue to make. The cross is the great place of level ground: we can none of us claim to be any higher that any other and therefore should not put on airs of pride. It just looks foolish.