- Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. Jeremiah 25:12 – The fact that judgement was coming upon Judah’s sins is no surprise to us this far into reading this book. Repeatedly the prophet made clear that God was going to use the Babylonians as His instrument to bring His wrath on His disobedient people. Judah would be overtaken, cast into exile, and remain in captivity for decades. Yet how could God use such a sinful nation like Babylon, even calling the nation “my servant?” Was the Lord so focused on Judah’s sin that He forgot to look at the sin of the nation He was using to bring forth His wrath? As the Apostle Paul would say, by no means. Our verse above shows us God clearly saw the sins of Babylon, and all the other sinful nations, and they too were going to experience God’s wrath on their sin. Notice though the difference between the wrath on Judah and the wrath on Babylon. 70 years was Judah’s punishment, but Babylon was to be an everlasting waste. It can be difficult to trust the Lord sometimes when we see the wicked people and nations of the world prospering yet the faithful suffering. Let the story of Jeremiah remind you that God is just, He is though working on a far grander scale than our minds can understand. Moves God makes may seem completely wrong to us in the moment, like calling a cruel nation as Babylon “His servant,” but He has everything planned out where the righteous are provided blessing and the wicked are provided judgement on their sin. As Isaiah reminds us, God’s ways are greater than our ways and God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Settle to trust the Lord even when the moves He is making don’t make sense in the moment. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3255
- For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. Jeremiah 25:3 – There are at least two things from this passage you should take away. First God is patient. He didn’t just give one chance to turn back, but repeatedly for over two decades kept giving them chances through Jeremiah to turn back to following Him. Even still they chose not to. We also need to learn that the calling God is placing on your life isn’t a quick thing to finish. It may be for a short season, yet it may be a lifelong calling. Know that like for Jeremiah, what God may call you to do won’t be quick and easy. It will always be worth it, just may not be quick. Thankfully God is even patient with us as we pursue this calling and stumble along the way. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 944
- So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: Jeremiah 25:17 – God was declaring His wrath over all the lands who had refused to turn to Him when He offered His hand to them. Now Jeremiah is given the bitter task of going to all these places and declaring to them the destruction that is to come. A task Jeremiah did not find joy in doing, but a task Jeremiah still accomplished. In our story, approaching another person and bringing to light a sin you are seeing in their story is not a comfortable thing to do. It’s awkward and you’re unsure of the response that will come after you speak to them about it. Yet, just like with Jeremiah’s mission, our mission is to speak into other peoples life helping them see the sin in their story and their need to turn to Jesus. It will not always be easy or comfortable or a desirable thing to do, but it is our calling. So if it’s someone who doesn’t know Jesus yet, be willing to speak into their story to help them see their need of a Savior due to their sin. If this person is a brother/sister in Christ and a sin in their story is becoming evident to you, gently and lovingly be willing to share with them what you’re seeing. Of course, no one likes having their sins put out in the open, but it’s out in the open where healing can take place. Be willing to step into the uncomfortable conversations so you can be a part of helping others out of their life with sin. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2157
Daily DEVO 