A CALL TO DEPEND ON GOD - THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)

THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)

DATE: THURSDAY, 3RD MARCH, 2022 

TOPIC: A CALL TO DEPEND ON GOD

TEXT: JEREMIAH 9:12-24 

12.  Who [is] the wise man who may understand this? And [who is he] to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish [and] burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?

13.  And the LORD said, "Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it,

14.  "but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,"

15.  therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

16.  "I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them."

17.  Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider and call for the mourning women, That they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, That they may come.

18.  Let them make haste And take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may run with tears, And our eyelids gush with water.

19.  For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, Because we have forsaken the land, Because we have been cast out of our dwellings.' "

20.  Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.

21.  For death has come through our windows, Has entered our palaces, To kill off the children -- [no longer to be] outside! [And] the young men -- [no longer] on the streets!

22.  Speak, "Thus says the LORD: 'Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, Like cuttings after the harvester, And no one shall gather [them.'] "

23.  Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty [man] glory in his might, Nor let the rich [man] glory in his riches;

24.  But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I [am] the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD.

MESSAGE: 

God is again reminding the people of Judah, that they had forsaken His statutes and had rather followed the dictates of their own hearts and Baal (vs. 13-14). God promised to reward them with bitter judgment and exile. Jeremiah was frightened by the prophetic vision of impending doom that was to come upon the disobedient and sinful Judah. They depended on their own capabilities and not on God. 

The sinful nature of the people of Judah had reached the climax and it was obvious that God was angry and would bring disaster upon them. Yet, they appeared undisturbed. God demanded that they know Him and His attributes of lovingkindness, justice and righteousness (v. 24). The Scripture admonishes us not to glory in vain and transient material things but (rather) to glory in the understanding and knowledge of the Lord. Your capabilities will fail you – wealth, fame, power, knowledge, etc., but God does not fail (1 Sam. 2:9; Heb. 13:8). Confess your total dependence on Him today and He will show you love, justice and righteousness.

PRAYER: 

Holy God, I surrender my will to Your Will. Guide and show me Your love in all my ways through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.