Sunday 23 Jun 2013

Sunday Reading: Lamentations 3:21-26

Key Verse: Lamentations 3:22
22  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

Devotion:
The prophet Jeremiah wrote these verses (the whole book of Lamentations) as poetry following on from his prophetical words given to the Jews earlier. The Jews at this stage were in a terrible mess and they surely deserved to have been wiped off the face of the earth because of their sins committed. But because of God’s mercies and compassion that never fail, they continued to survive and be under His ultimate protection.

Even though so much had happened that had all but broken the Jews, Jeremiah saw God’s providence and saw just how much God was still doing for them. He saw God’s love over and above everything that happened and knew that God would keep His promises to keep the Jews as His chosen people. Jeremiah knew that the things of earth would fade away but that God’s Word would continue to stand forever!

Jeremiah saw how God lifted him up above the strife and worry and allowed him to continue seeing and believing and trusting in His Word. Jeremiah knew that this strength could not come from anything earthly but must be from God. He learned that he would have to wait patiently upon God to deliver on His promises according to His own timetable and not to the tune of the Jews and their wants and desires. Jeremiah saw that they would have to put up with the afflictions that would come their way just as others had had to many years before. He saw the pain and suffering they had been through in captivity time and time again but he knew that God had lifted up His people time and time again.

Let us not look at the sufferings and the afflictions as things to discourage us but rather as events that herald a new beginning in our lives as we get weaned off the ways of the world and look forward to the ways of God every step of the way. It is hard for us to let go of the world at times but it is also hard for God to stand by and watch us wallow in the ways of the world as they corrupt us. He is not punishing us for our sins but trying to wean us off of those sinful ways so that we ca walk closer every day with Him!

Points to Ponder:
What sin do you still carry round with you?

Are you ready to put them aside and take on God’s ways?