[Anglican Devotional 19 August 2023] Topic: God’s Coming Punishment Predicted
TOPIC: God’s Coming Punishment Predicted
READ: Jeremiah 9:1-17 (NKJV)
Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!
Oh, that I had in the wilderness A lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people, And go from them! For they [are] all adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men.
“And [like] their bow they have bent their tongues [for] lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” says the LORD.
“Everyone take heed to his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, And every neighbor will walk with slanderers.
Everyone will deceive his neighbor, And will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Your dwelling place [is] in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the LORD.
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and try them; For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
Their tongue [is] an arrow shot out; It speaks deceit; [One] speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, But in his heart he lies in wait.
Shall I not punish them for these [things?”] says the LORD. “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, Because they are burned up, So that no one can pass through; Nor can [men] hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; They are gone.
“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”
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?
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,
“but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,”
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.
“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.”
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.
THE MESSAGE:
God asked Prophet Jeremiah to explain to the people of Judah and point out their sin for which destruction would come upon them. He lamented the bloodshed and loss of lives which were the order of the day in the land of Israel. They were idolaters in that they had married themselves to false gods in thought, word and deed. They were a generation of liars and murderers and lived in a culture of deceit. They also brought up such generations after them. It was proclaimed that the land would be totally devastated and filled great sorrow. Once they refused to repent of all their sinful acts, God’s judgment over the land would surely come to pass.
Our nation today is filled with similar ungodly activities. The land is full of different forms of evil and God is ready to punish any nation who rejects his precepts and follows her own way. If we all can take our minds back to God, do according to His commandments and turn away from sinful acts, then whatever punishment He has planned for our land will be averted and peace will fill our land.
PRAYER: Father, give us Your grace to know, love, and give our all to You in all we do, Amen.
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