Jeremiah – Chapter 52

…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

Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. Jeremiah 52:7-9 – The lesson we learn from these verses is one the world needs to hear. That there is no escaping the judgment of God on our sins. Our sins will be punished and there is no getting around or away from that. What we also must all hear is that while our sins will be punished, the punishment doesn’t have to be laid upon us. Jesus is offering Himself to take the punish of your sin upon His shoulders. He freely is doing this for you, all you have to do is ask Him and He’ll gladly bear them. If you’ve already asked Him to do this, take a moment in prayer today to once again say thank you to Jesus for doing such a beautiful thing for you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more. – Mac – Daily DEVO 971

And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. Jeremiah 52:13-14 – These two verses would have crushed the readers. I don’t know if we today have anything like this to compare it to, but imagine this. One day you hear that your local church was burned to the ground, your favorite Bible destroyed, your small group torn apart, and your pastor killed. Everything that was so important in your faith life just wiped out. Yet, even without those things, could you still worship Jesus? Could the people of God still worship God even though their temple was destroyed and they were torn from their home? Yes, to both questions. What you need to worship Jesus is Jesus and He can never be destroyed. Your salvation can never be taken away from you. So even is your church is destroyed, or your body fails you, or your family is torn apart, or you lose a loved one, God can still be worshiped by us. Don’t let tragedy lead you in a trajectory away from Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2184