HOPE AMIDST DISASTER - 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, 7TH APRIL, 2022
TOPIC: HOPE AMIDST DISASTER
TEXT: JEREMIAH 16:10-17:4
10. " And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what [is] our iniquity? Or what [is] our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'
11. "then you shall say to them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me,' says the LORD; 'they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.
12. 'And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
13. 'Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.'
14. " Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that it shall no more be said, 'The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,'
15. "but, 'The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.' For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16. " Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17. "For My eyes [are] on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
18. "And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols."
19. O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable [things."]
20. Will a man make gods for himself, Which [are] not gods?
21. " Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; And they shall know that My name [is] the LORD.
17:1. "The sin of Judah [is] written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond [it is] engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars,
2. While their children remember Their altars and their wooden images By the green trees on the high hills.
3. O My mountain in the field, I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures, [And] your high places of sin within all your borders.
4. And you, even yourself, Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; And I will cause you to serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger [which] shall burn forever."
MESSAGE:
In our reading today, we see that God clearly told the people of Israel that He would punish them and take them into exile because of the sin of idolatry which they inherited from their forefathers and continued in (vs. 10-13).
However, God promised to bring them back from the exile they were yet to enter into. He also promised to resettle the people of Israel in their land. Today’s Bible passage teaches us, among other things, that God is a God of Justice. If we willfully continue to sin against Him, our reward will be punishment from God. This is a result of His justice system. But if we repent, He will pardon us. Let us not take His mercy for granted for it is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God; He is a consuming fire!
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, please help me to fully and freely follow You.
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