Thurs.’s Devo - Hope and Faith

Read: Jer. 28:1-29:32:1 Tim 1:1-20; Ps. 86:1-17; Pr. 25:17 We all want to be bearers of good news, and Hananiah was no exception. He prophesied that they would break the yoke of Babylon and be set free. Hananiah was prophesying from his own desires, not God’s. Jeremiah opposed him with God’s words. God said they would be in Babylon for 70 years then God would bring them back to Jerusalem. In the mean time they were to settle in Babylon and make it their home. Then he turned and prophesied that Hananiah would die in a year for lying to the people. He did. Reminds me of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 who lied about how much they sold their land for. They died that day. We can not lie to God and get away with it. In Chapter 29 we have the scripture everyone loves to quote: Jeremiah 29:11. I wonder how many of us that quote this scripture realize that Jeremiah gave it to a people in captivity. Many of them would die before their people came back to Jerusalem but this promise would go to their children and grand children. It is not only a promise of hope but of deliverance from captivity. God did not want them to lose hope and He doesn’t want us to lose hope either. In first Timothy we see Paul mentoring young Timothy and encouraging him in his walk. Paul ignorantly blasphemed the Lord and did harm to the gospel until God in his mercy, saved him. Paul charges Timothy to war a good warfare; keeping the faith and a good conscience. Then Paul adds that two men lost their faith so he turned them over to Satan so they would learn a lesson. That’s worth contemplation! Lord, thank you for hope and encouragement. We know that the end You have planned is good and victorious! We hope in You.