Good morning brothers and sisters, this is Alice from HarvestLA. Today is Thursday, October 8th, 2020. Today's daily devotion is Jeremiah 44:11-19. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You and we love You. Please give us hearts of hunger and thirst for your teaching and love. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen!
Jeremiah 44:11-19 11 “Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am determined to bring disaster on you and to destroy all Judah. 12 I will take away the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt; they will fall by the sword or die from famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine. They will become a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach. 13 I will punish those who live in Egypt with the sword, famine and plague, as I punished Jerusalem. 14 None of the remnant of Judah who have gone to live in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, to which they long to return and live; none will return except a few fugitives.” 15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, 16 “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! 17 We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. 18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.” 19 The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”
I can totally understand why is Jeremiah called the weeping prophet. How heartbreaking is that for God to say to His beloved people, they will be a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach and that He will punish them!
God knows us even before we were born and the very hairs of our head are all numbered. God loves us dearly and faithfully. He created the light, the sky, the land, the seas, the plants, the trees, the sun, the moon, the stars, the creatures that live in the sea, the creatures that fly, the animals that live on the land and then finally humans. God has everything ready before humans came to be. Again and again for years God sent prophets to warn, to admonish the people of Israel. In verse 16 the Israelites said to Jeremiah, "We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord!" Their hearts were hard like stone, they turned God away, they worshiped other gods and they rejected the prophets that were sent by God.
If you know someone is about to walk into danger. Won't you inform them? If they ignore you, you will go get someone else to alert them until they are out of danger.
Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You and we love You. The year of 2020 is truly not an easy year. With the pandemic, the wildfires, the earthquake, climate change crises, economic decline, man-made disasters and such. Please comfort, heal and provide those who have lost their loved ones, people need to recover their physical or mental health, who have financial needs and the like. Lord please watch over us, for You will neither slumber nor sleep. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZxd3cI5LjE
Good morning brothers and sisters, this is Alice from HarvestLA. Today is Friday, September 4th, 2020. We are going to have the devotion on Jeremiah 27:12-22. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You and we love You. Please speak to us through your words. And give us wisdom to understand and follow it. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen!
Jeremiah 27:12-22 12 I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of Judah. I said, “Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live. 13 Why will you and your people die by the sword, famine and plague with which the Lord has threatened any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying lies to you. 15 ‘I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord. ‘They are prophesying lies in my name. Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets who prophesy to you.’” 16 Then I said to the priests and all these people, “This is what the Lord says: Do not listen to the prophets who say, ‘Very soon now the articles from the Lord’s house will be brought back from Babylon.’ They are prophesying lies to you. 17 Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this city become a ruin? 18 If they are prophets and have the word of the Lord, let them plead with the Lord Almighty that the articles remaining in the house of the Lord and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not be taken to Babylon. 19 For this is what the Lord Almighty says about the pillars, the bronze Sea, the movable stands and the other articles that are left in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— 21 yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the things that are left in the house of the Lord and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem: 22 ‘They will be taken to Babylon and there they will remain until the day I come for them,’ declares the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’”
In verse 18 talks about how to distinguish a false prophet. False prophets know how to pick the words that we love to hear which will only lead us to death. God has His way and timeline to fulfill His promises. It may seem unreasonable and is a rough long journey to walk through. We need to repent and submit to God and the salvation will come. Otherwise His judgement will come upon us. The price of sin is death. On the other hand, a prophet like Jeremiah needs to take courage to tell the truth that he heard from God. He needs to take the risk of being interrogated, being put in prison or even losing his life.
There's a Chinese proverb that says "bitter medicine cures sickness" so as faithful words grate upon the ear. (良藥苦口忠言逆耳)
That's all for today's devotion and yet a lot to ponder.
Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You and we love You. Help us to seek for your wisdom patiently and have the seeing eyes and hearing ears from You. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen!
Thanks for tuning in with me to study God's words. Stay cool and see you next time.
