Maegan - "will" versus "shall"

This morning I turned on the podcast when I got to work. I was trying to focus, but was a bit distracted, so I just left it on in the background while I was sitting and doing some work things. At the very least, I thought, it is soothing to my soul to have it on in the background. And then the narrator began with the reading... and my heart pounded out of my chest! I LOVE this reading, because once upon a time, when I was leading a retreat for young adults, this was the verse that was chosen for prayer lab and God just about blew my heart open. So here is the whole first reading from today, so you'll read it, and hopefully it will fill your heart and soul like it does mine:

Reading 1JER 31:31-34

The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers:
the day I took them by the hand
to lead them forth from the land of Egypt;
for they broke my covenant,
and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives
how to know the LORD.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, 

for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. 

Man, oh man! It makes my heart pump like crazy! Did you catch it? Did it speak to you?

There are many many things in this verse that speak to me, and I sure there are tons of different ways the Holy Spirit can use this excerpt of the Word to speak to our hearts individually. Today, I just want to share with you the part that God spoke into my heart several years ago, that He continues to speak to me today...

Although I am a Youth Minister, my degree is actually in English Literature, and I am TOTALLY a word nerd. Words are so important to me, and so when I listen to someone speak, or read their work, I pay attention to their word choice. So God spoke to me through that one day and showed me something:

"I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Bam! 

Haha, okay, okay, I realize this might be a nuance thing so let me point it out to you: 

God (through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the Prophet Jeremiah) is stating the terms of this new covenant He has made with His people (because the Israelites broke the original covenant... shame, shame! Just kidding. :) and God uses the word "will" for His part of the covenant - meaning it IS going to happen, God is making a promise, like when He says "I WILL do it" - God WILL be ours.

And yet, He ends the statement by saying: "and they SHALL be my people." Shall- meaning He is giving permission, or even inviting the possibility, but also with a sense of firmness.

This stuck out to me because, from a literary perspective, it would be more appropriate for all of the verb tenses to match up since "will" is used in the sentence just above as well: "I WILL place my law within them..." In fact, I am noticing just now as I read it again,  that everything God is saying about himself uses the verb "WILL" and every reference to our part of the covenant is "SHALL" and in my nerdy word brain, that is super poignant!

God WILL. He will provide. He will write His law and love on our hearts. He will be our God. No matter what.

And He invites us into that communion: we SHALL be His, if we accept it - if we let Him be. 

It sounds to me like an open invitation, even despite how much we may mess it up, we SHALL always be His. I don't know about you, but that is something I need to sit with more frequently.

Let us pray.