…in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600. Jeremiah 52:30 – Here is the last chapter of Jeremiah, and what we find is a telling of many of the fulfillments of Jeremiah’s prophecies. Jerusalem was overtaken, the Temple was burned, and the people taken off into exile. For 860 years the people of Israel possessed the land the Lord had given them, but their choice to turn away from the Lord and instead chase after idol led to them losing this precious promised land. For Jeremiah, after 40 plus years of ministering to this people, it must have felt like a complete defeat seeing them never turn to the Lord and then them being carried off into enemy exile. In fact we know it felt like utter defeat for him for we have the book of Lamentations that describe for us how he felt about all this. What we have though from Jeremiah is an example to follow when the work of ministry isn’t progressing like we hoped it would. People may not be responding to the word and people may not be turning away from their sin, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up. Jeremiah for decades continued to remain faithful to whatever the Lord called him to do, even if that ended him in prison or tossed in a cistern to die. As we faithfully seek to follow the Lord we too will face challenges that will seek halt our pursuit of Christ. Jeremiah showed us that just because challenges arise we don’t have to let them stop us from being faithful to what God says. You can’t control how people will respond to the word of God and you can’t control what the enemy does, but you can control how you handle the things seeking to stop you from continuing after the Lord. Keep pushing and keep serving, the end of some coming to know Jesus is worth it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3282
Question To Ponder: How does the Lord help us with the challenges the enemy puts in our way?
See Full Chapter
See Previous Devotions Over This Chapter
Daily DEVO 
Leave a comment