Corona Devo 3274
It got to the point where people in our row were elbowing each other in awe, and some even started to laugh a little, because the Scriptures were so timely that it was almost shocking...until we remembered Who wrote them: the One who knows you and me intimately. The author of our lives.
...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. ~Hebrews 12:2
When God "reads your diary" from His Word, it's a little scary, It's a little exciting. But mostly it is comforting.
And it wasn't just me feeling it, hearing it...and absorbing these Bible verses as my Bible verses. It was a number of us, and it very well might be you too.
Whatever we are walking through today--God knows a-l-l about it, and He lets us know that through the Bible. He speaks to us about what we are walking through, through His Word.
A number of us felt seen by Jeremiah Chapter 15, and God's Word is not just for the people in my pew: it's for you and everyone.
I couldn't know if these words will jump right off the page and into your (personal) business, but that's exactly how it happened for us.
Let God speak to those that need to hear Him, and if the Lord (through His Word) shocks and delights you all at once...well, he did the same thing to us!
~~~
Has it been hard? Are we beat down?
Lord, you understand; remember me and care for me. ~Jeremiah 15:15
Is the world (and its darkness) trying (hard) to have-it's-way with us...but we are not having it?
Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. ~Jeremiah 15:15
Yes, and we read His Word and we find the Lord in His Word, and we eat His words, and we (His children) delight in His Word.
Because we are His. And we bear His name.
When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty. ~Jeremiah 15:16
~~~
Is it lonely (seeking Christ)? Yes.
Is it famous or fun or popular? No.
Is it painful and emotionally/mentally/physically/spiritually exhausting? Yes.
Can we speak frankly with God about the trials and unfairness of this? Yes.
I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.
(18) Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable?
You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails. ~Jeremiah 15:17-18
Jeremiah is being honest with God here. And God can take it. We can be honest with the Lord.
Jeremiah is arguing that he has done the right things in order to satisfy God. Jeremiah has not (ever) sat in the company of revelers.
Jeremiah reminds God that he has not even joined in with those that oppose God's holiness and law: never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation (Jeremiah 15:17).
Jeremiah has done the right things, and he has abstained from the wrong things, and yet...he suffers. He suffers. He continues to suffer.
Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? ~Jeremiah 15:18
Have we been (trying!) to do the right things?
Have we separated (sat alone) when it comes to partaking in the world's sinful pleasures?
And yet...has hardship and hatred still found us? Is the life and Law that God leads us in...still coming up (painfully) short of comfort, and acceptance from the world?
"It's not supposed to be this hard!", our heart protests to the Lord. "You never said it would be this lonely...".
Have we been tricked?
It's okay to admit: Do we sometimes (Today?) feel like living for the Lord (and going against every grain of this world) might be an impossible task?
You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails. ~Jeremiah 15:18
~~~
Has Jesus read your journal too?
If you had been sitting in the pew on Sunday with us, would you have elbowed me, just as the person next to me did?
Has life (for Him) become so very difficult, that (in our frailty) we (shamefully) wonder if we have been deceived? (You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails. ~Jeremiah 15:18)
And if we can answer "Yes" to any of these feelings/ideas/realities in our spiritual trek for the Lord Jesus Christ....then (God says): Keep reading my Word.
Allow Him to continue our story.
If we are at the exhausted point....at the defeated point...at the doubting point---Then let the Lord breathe life into our next points, because (His Word says) this story (our story)...HIS story is not finished yet. In fact, He is just getting started, and we can't throw in the towel, because very soon we will be waving it in (His) victory.
We may have been writing (woefully) into our spiritual diary about what is happening now.
But Jeremiah Chapter 15 narrates what is about to happen next. And if-we-want-to-be, then we-will-be the main character. God is looking for (His) main characters, who will not fade-away when the persecution comes, but who will (instead) stand up.
Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman.Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
(20) I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the Lord.
(21) “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.” ~Jeremiah 15:19-21
Do these verses and these promises from God make anyone else want to stand up and hoot and holler?
And yet, YES AND AMEN!...God will restore us. They will not overcome us. God is with us, and He will rescue and save us.
sarah
https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com
Comments
Post a Comment