OCTOBER 18 READING…LAMENTATIONS 2 & PSALM 77
Have you ever had such grief that it paralyzed you? Jeremiah is filled with anguish over the fall of Jerusalem. Jerusalem represented the blessings of God, it was the place where the Lord’s Temple stood. But now the Temple was destroyed. Several years earlier the Prophet Ezekiel was given a vision in Babylon, as he was taken captive in the second siege by Nebuchadnezzar. In his vision the Lord allowed Ezekiel to see the Spirit of God leave the Temple. Without the Spirit of God, the Temple became a spiritually empty, corrupt, religious building. The apostasy of the religious leaders had led to the place where God was not even welcome in His own Temple. The saddest part of Jeremiah’s lamentation is that he recognized that the judgment of God, Himself, was standing against Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah stated that God had released His fierce anger against Judah, and has taken away its power. God has rejected the altar of sacrifice, and God has torn down the wall and the gates. Jeremiah is moved to the place of weeping and having a broken heart over the condition of Judah. The whole place had become a spiritually desolate place. The Psalmist also laments to the seeming absence of God from the land. It is incredible to me that this same dynamic exists today. People deny, reject, and rebel against God…then when something happens they cry out, “Where is God?” We as believers must continue to walk in faithfulness to the Lord in these dark days. We live in a godless society, where God is a by-word most of the time, and is called upon only when trouble happens. May God have mercy upon us, and may His hand of judgment be stayed for just one more day, that one more person might come to know Jesus!
Please share your thoughts.
TOMORROW’S READING…LAMENTATIONS 3 & PSALM 140