JEREMIAH 33:14

‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

TO PONDER

Over many weeks at LifeWay, we have been working our way through the book of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah has been tasked by God, when he was still very young, to bring God’s message to the people of Judah. Not only were the people rejecting God’s will and purpose for their lives, they were also refusing to listen to God’s warning of the impending disaster that was coming their way. After many years of Jeremiah frustratingly trying to get the people to heed God’s message, we come to today’s reading - towards the end of the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The prophesies from God through Jeremiah were now coming true and the situation in Jerusalem was really desperate. The inhabitants were now facing starvation while they waited for the Babylonians to finally break through the city walls and slaughter the inhabitants and burn the city down.

But God’s message is now not one of “I told you so”, but of the promise of restoration. God’s purpose in letting the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem was not so much punishment for rejecting Him, but for restoration of the people into the family relationship God wanted to have with his people.

You may currently be going through some challenging times in your own life (illness, injury, relationship breakdown, financial difficulties, employment issues) or you may be feeling depressed by the evil being inflicted on others in this world by those in positions of power. The discouragement you are feeling may even be related to what is happening to someone close to you. And you may be asking, like the people of Jerusalem were asking, “Where are you God? Why is this happening to us?”

The answer is that God is right beside you with open arms to give you a welcoming hug and then hold your hand as he leads you through the challenges you are facing. And he will be teaching you many new things as he does so. How do I know? Well, that was my own experience when my first marriage failed. (I am not blaming my former spouse; but we were facing issues which neither of us had the skills to deal with.) I worked so hard (I thought) to keep the marriage together, but finally had to admit my utter failure and accept the marriage was over. The amazing thing was that then, through the little miracles happening around me, I experienced God’s amazing care for me. But don’t just take my word for it. The Bible is full of God’s promise to be with us in whatever situations we find ourselves. And of course, He demonstrated His great love and commitment to us when Jesus willing went to the cross for each one of us. And what do we have to do? Stop trying to find the solution and answers, fall on our knees, admit our utter helplessness to God and then let Him be our loving Heavenly Father.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your awesome love for us that your Son, Jesus, demonstrated through his life, death and resurrection that we are very precious to you. Thank you too for your promise to always be with us wherever we are and whatever is happening to us. Amen

Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping