OCTOBER 17 READING…JEREMIAH 52 &LAMENTATIONS 1 & PSALM 74
Today’s reading is very sad. Jeremiah’s last chapter tells us of the fall of Jerusalem. This is the third time Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem. His intent was to make the place a possession of Babylon, one of its provinces, but the king and the people were rebellious. So, Nebuchadnezzar took the king, killed all his family and nobles before his eyes, then he put out his eyes and threw him in prison, where he stayed until he died. Then Nebuchadnezzar burned the city of Jerusalem. In Lamentations Jeremiah moves from prophet to the voice that laments what has happened to Jerusalem. Once a beautiful city, with a beautiful Temple, and now both have been laid waste, because of the sin and rebellion of the Jewish people. Jeremiah’s words cry out to God concerning the condition of Jerusalem that had brought it to this place. It seems Jeremiah has more concern for the city, than those who were given the responsibility to have concern. No king, no noble, not even the people seemed to be concerned for what had happened to God’s beautiful city. Like today, I am sure they blamed everyone else except themselves…and ultimately, they blamed God for His judgment. The Psalmist begs God to remember His covenant…it could rightly be said that it was the people who had forgotten the covenant, not God. What had happened to them was a direct result of them breaking their part of the covenant with God. Now there would be no voice of God in the city, there would be no teaching of the law. Just a once beautiful city that laid in waste. Oh, how I pray we would learn from this in our country…yet I know that won’t happen, and the destruction of God’s judgment is coming soon. Who will lament for America?
Please share your thoughts.
TOMORROW’S READING…LAMENTATIONS 2 & PSALM 77