Today was my last day of a 30-week Bible study I did with other women through the period of Israel's exile and return. Here are my key takeways:

The power of prayer. To watch it work through the story is different from knowing it in the abstract. These men and women sought God through exile and oppression, praying prayers of repentance and lament, interceding on behalf of a people who had earned their judgment. And God, who disciplines but does not abandon, answered. Return to me, and I'll return to you.

The character of God. The exile is not easy reading. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple, the place where God's presence dwelt, was razed. The people were scattered. This was real judgment, not a metaphor. And yet a repeated theme is God refusing to let the story end there. Malachi, the final prophet of the Old Testament, opens not with accusation but with God’s declaration, I have loved you. What follows is a back-and-forth between God and a people who keep questioning that love, and He keeps pointing to what He has done. He did not leave them; they left Him. The book closes with a promise: He would send someone ahead to prepare the way. The covenant is not finished.

The God of the Old Testament is not a different God from the God of the New. He is the same God who, in the fullness of time, demonstrated that love completely through His Son. He loved Israel not because they were faithful, but because He is. As it says in Deuteronomy: He set His love on them not because they were great, but because He chose to, and because He keeps His promises.

If you haven't spent time in this part of Scripture, I'd encourage you to. It is the story of a God who pursues a rebellious people through hundreds of years of failure and does not let go of them. His promises never faltered, even when theirs did.