Sat.’s Devo - Jeremiah’s Case

Read: Jeremiah 12:1-14:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:8; Psalm 79:1-13; Proverbs 24:30-34 Jeremiah had a case to bring before the Lord that he wanted the Lord to pass judgment on. His question was: why are the wicked so prosperous, established and happy? They even talk about the Lord like they know him but their hearts are far from loving him and honoring him. Jeremiah had kept his heart right, but he was not seeing his blessing. The whole land was dying because of the deeds of the wicked. The people were so hopeless they didn’t think that God had a plan for them. God did have a plan but it was to destroy them because of their hard hearts. God will also destroy the nations who were their enemies and pluck Judah out from them. These that he chose will return to Jerusalem and He will have compassion on them and give them their inheritance in their own land. Any nation who learns from his people about the Lord and turns to him will be saved as a nation. God told Jeremiah to buy a linen loincloth and wear it for a while, then take it and bury it in the rocks by the Euphrates River. A good time later, God told him to go back and dig it up. It was rotting and falling apart, good for nothing. The loincloth was a picture of Israel’s pride that God was going to rot away as they live in another nation under unjust rulers. Jeremiah begged the people to lay down their pride and acknowledge and worship the Lord. It was their only hope. He told the king and his mother to come off their thrones and repent. He told them to open their eyes - their spiritual eyes. He could see the army from the north coming through his spiritual eyes. Their allies were about to become their enemies. Jeremiah begged them to repent while they could because all their sins were about to be exposed for all to see. To get their attention, God stopped the rain. Deuteronomy 28:24 says that “the Lord shall make the rain of your land powder and dust:from heaven it shall come down upon you, until you be destroyed.” They depended on rain for their livelihood. All business came to a stop. This is like what happened to us in 2020. We were so busy with our every day lives and many didn’t stop to consider the Lord. Many didn’t see the enemy was coming for our nation, so God had to get our attention. Our enemy is Socialism and Communism and China. I pray that God has gotten our attention now. When this happened in Israel it did get their attention and they turned to the Lord for help but their hearts were not repentant. They just wanted to be saved from Nebechadnezzar. God told them that since they loved to wander far from him, he was no longer going to think of them as his people. He was going to punish them for their sins. That will be God’s response in the end of the ages when he is done. Paul went to Thessalonica for the first time during his second missionary tour. Thessalonica was the capitol of its district of the Roman province of Macedonia and had a natural harbor. It was located on a major Roman military highway and was ruled by politarchs which were a class of officials. Paul called these men “rulers of the city” in 1:9. Paul’s message was accepted by both Jews and devout Greeks. A number of prominent women in the city responded also. There faith became widely known and got the attention of both the Roman officials and the Jewish opponents who brought charges that Paul and his band had “turned the world upside down.” This was a serious charge which sounded more lie a civil rebellion than a peaceful protest…sound familiar today? The Roman’s though to call Jesus “Lord” was to give him a title only applied to the emperor so they were accused of opposing Caesar. Paul was only able to stay about three weeks so his letter was to encourage them in their faith. Everywhere Paul went he was hearing of their faith in the Lord. Paul had escaped Thessalonica with Silas and gone to Berea where the Jewish enemies follow them to stir up the crowds against him. Since Paul had left Thessalonica in the midst of civil unrest, their work was cut short. Paul wanted them to know that he didn’t look at this visit as a failure because they met persecution and trouble. God had given them courage to declare his Good News boldly inspire of the opposition. Lord, thank you for the reminder that even Paul faced such opposition to the truth. May it make our resolve even greater to stand for truth and your honor.