- How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. Lamentations 2:1 – Within the last couple weeks I remember walking to church one morning and finding it to be all smoky outside. I thought it was someone burning a field close by, come to find out it was due to the Colorado fires. And I’m in central Kansas! It reached that far! The point here I want us to grab it that if we think the punishment of our sinfulness will be minor or won’t impact others, we need to rethink that. Here scripture says Jerusalem was covered under a cloud of destruction that all felt, even those passing by were shocked at how destroyed it was. God doesn’t take sin lightly and we shouldn’t either. Let Jesus take the weight of the punishment of your sin first, and if you’ve already let Him do that, keep doing your best to keep sinfulness out of your story. The pain it brings is real and others will feel it to. Let the cloud over you be one of blessing instead that touches all those around you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1360
- My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. Lamentations 2:11-12 – Yesterday we read about how the people of God went forward into their sin without any thought of the future consequences their choices may bring. Now we are seeing what those consequences would be, and no one would be blinded to such terrors. The temple and city destroyed, the city walls torn down, yet even worse, the destruction of the people. Young, older, even babies dying in the streets. The writers sees all this is and is deeply broken by all of it, he can’t even keep from vomiting after the vile things he witnesses. All this though was the consequences of sin that the people refused to think about when they rejected the Lord. When we then see the consequences of sin, whether in our life or in someone else’s, allow that sight to firm up your resolve to continue saying no to the temptations of the enemy. For if such turmoil is what sin brings, let us never be blinded again to the reality behind the temptation. The sort of image the writer of Lamentations saw was something he never wanted to see again, we would never want to see, and something God never longs to see in our story either. Let us choose the path of following Jesus that results in rest, peace, and Heaven rather than the disgusting ending sin brings. Following Jesus is better. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2735
Daily DEVO 