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Earnestly seek Him…. (devo reflection)

Ezekiel 1:1 In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
Commentary goes into great detail about Ezekiel’s vision in this chapter. And while there is much that is fascinating in Ezekiel’s vision, that’s not what I find most noteworthy about this chapter. Ezekiel wanted to be used in God’s service. He had planned on being a priest for the LORD. Captivity made that impossible. Yet on His 30th birthday, the day he would have begun his temple service, by a river in a faraway land, God shows up.
Ezekiel 1:26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.
God knows that Ezekiel has a heart for Him. God knows his 30th birthday marks and important milestone that will never be, God knows Ezekiel’s seeks Him with all his heart—and God. Shows. Up. But this should hardly surprising. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” It seems as if the revelation isn’t that God is with us if we seek Him, it’s that we forget that all we have to do is earnestly seek Him to be able to find Him in our lives.
Ezekiel 1:28a Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him…
Lord, You promise to never leave us nor forsake us. You promise that if we seek You wholeheartedly, we will always find You. Forgive us for our forgetfulness on such a crucial point. Help us to develop the daily habit of earnestly seeking You. Help us to see Your presence everywhere in our lives. Amen.
Ezekiel 1:28b …This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
Have a blessed day.
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Promise and hope…. (devo reflection)

Lamentations 5:15 Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning.
Psalm 30:11 shows that when God is our center, when we humble ourselves before Him, He turns our mourning into dancing, loosens our sackcloth and clothes us with gladness. Lamentations 5:15 shows that when God is no longer our center, when we turn from Him to our own desires, the opposite occurs.
Lamentations 5:16 The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
Joy and gladness are not rights, they are blessings. We don’t deserve them. We shouldn’t expect them. But when we live a life aligned to God, when we keep Him at our center, when we humble ourselves before Him, He lavishes His blessings upon us.
Lamentations 5:19 You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
Lord, You do not promise to keep us from mourning and sadness. We can’t avoid these conditions in this fallen world. But You lavish us with blessings that turn for us our mourning into dancing; You loose our sackcloth and clothe us with gladness in the midst of sorrow and mourning. Thank You for the promise and hope that can only come from You. Help me, always, to humble myself before You, to keep You at my center, to recognize Your blessings in this life. Amen.
Lamentations 5:21 Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old….
Have a blessed day.
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The most precious thing I possess…. (devo reflection)

Lamentations 4:1 How the gold has lost its luster, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner.
My tendency toward pride, toward feeling like something is my due, is addressed in this verse. God’s blessings are gold, precious and valuable, but when I treat them as rights due to me, the value of those blessings is diminished in my eyes—they aren’t precious gifts, they are expectations. Jesus, Forgive me.
Lamentations 4:12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the peoples of the world, that enemies and foes could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
Pride also leads to neglect. If I expect something is mine and that no one will take it away from me, I don’t tend it like I should. I don’t care for, value, or protect it like the precious thing it is. I’ve never thought about pride affecting my relationship with my Savior, but that’s exactly what happened in Jerusalem and Judah. They quit acting like God’s chosen people and started doing whatever they pleased, figuring that their chosen status was secured. I’ve acted in the same ignorance. Jesus, Forgive me.
Lamentations 4:13 But it happened because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed within her the blood of the righteous.
Lord, I have seen the dangers of pride in my own life, the bitterness when something I thought was mine by rights was taken away or withheld. Forgive me. Today’s scripture has help solidify that my relationship with You is THE most precious, most valuable thing I possess. Help me to never be prideful about Your love. Help me to tend my relationship with You as the precious gift it is. Help me to always be thankful and grateful for Your blessings in my life, to never take them for granted. Amen.
Lamentations 4:16 The Lord himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. The priests are shown no honor, the elders no favor.
Have a blessed day.
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Humility leads to hope…. (devo reflection)

Lamentations 3:21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
I have been aware of this section of Lamentations 3 for a long time. I gravitate toward the hope it provides. But commentary on these verses makes an interesting point that really resonates with me this morning: “he humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives.”
Lamentations 3:22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
This idea of humility leading to hope is one I’d not pondered before, but it makes perfect sense. When I approach life with a prideful attitude and things don’t go my way, I feel offended. But when I approach life from a humbled heart, with the attitude that God is sovereign and can work all things for my good and His glory, hope flares—even when I don’t understand, don’t like what is happening, and can’t see any way for positive resolution.
Lamentations 3:23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lord, Thank You for the reminder that You ARE in control and You ARE working all things for our good and Your glory, regardless of my circumstances or emotions. Period. Full stop. Thank You for helping me see how my pride leads to bitterness and my humility leads to hope. Fill my life with Your hope, Lord. Help me to share Your light with all I encounter. Amen.
Lamentations 3:24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
Have a blessed day.
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Privilege and responsibility…. (devo reflection)

Lamentations 2:13 What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you?
Commentary made a point in this chapter that really struck me: “For many generations God’s people thought only in terms of the privilege and not of the responsibility” of the titles and positions of Daughter of Zion and Daughter of Judah.
Lamentations 2:14 The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading.
I love the privilege of my title of fiercely loved child of God. There are many promises tied up in that title. But I don’t often think of the responsibilities asked of me because of that position, though I think that as I get older I am naturally gravitating to some of the habits—daily time with God, daily communication with God, studying God’s word, shining God’s light, living as an example to God’s people (that one is disconcerting, for sure), loving extravagantly and without reason.
Lamentations 2:15 All who pass your way clap their hands at you; they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?”
Lord, Thank You for the privilege of being Your fiercely loved child. Help me to be mindful of enthusiastically fulfilling the things You have called me to do as Your daughter, all of which draw me closer to You. Keep drawing me closer, Lord. Always. Amen.
Lamentations 2:17 The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes.
Have a blessed day.
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The process of being humbled…. (devo reflection)

Lamentations 1:5 Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. The Lord has brought her grief because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe.
It is hard to be humbled. Even as I type these words, they feel like a colossal understatement. Being humbled involves realizing you were arrogant in the first place. It usually involves losing something important or valuable to the one humbled. It involves acknowledging that you are at fault, that your actions led to this miserable end.
Lamentations 1:7a In the days of her affliction and wandering Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old….
The process of being humbled is incredibly painful. It involves mourning, grief, and loss. But it can also lead to a humble and contrite heart, which can lead us back to God….if we allow, if we humble ourselves fully.
Lamentations 1:7b …When her people fell into enemy hands, there was no one to help her. Her enemies looked at her and laughed at her destruction.
Lord, I know You are at work in my heart. I know You are still working with me on humility, on laying aside my pride, on emptying myself of me so that I can be filled with You. I want this, too, but my fleshly humanity keeps getting in the way, keeps trying to wrestle back control. Help me, Lord. Amen.
Lamentations 1:8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. All who honored her despise her, for they have all seen her naked; she herself groans and turns away.
Have a blessed day.
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The power of remembering…. (devo reflection)

Jeremiah 52:31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. 
Commentary says that this chapter is essentially a summary of the prophecies of Jeremiah. One might wonder why this was necessary. This was an incredibly difficult, gruelingly destructive time in the history of Jerusalem and Judah. Why remember?
Jeremiah 52:32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 
There is power in remembering the small, cumulative steps that led to this destruction. There is power in remembering that God gave so many chances for them to return and repent before this destructive end. There is power in remembering the small kindnesses and blessings even in all the heartbreak and despair, in remembering that God’s goal even here was redemption for His people.
Jeremiah 52:33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 
Lord, Help me never to forget the power of remembering. Help me never to forget that return and redemption are Your goals for me, for all of us, that relationship is foundationally important. Help me never to forget that even in all the heartbreak and despair, there are kindnesses and blessings. Thank You. Amen.
Jeremiah 52:34 Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death.
Have a blessed day.
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Even in my confusion…. (devo reflection)

Jeremiah 51:24 “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the Lord.
Lord, I struggle so with the destruction in these chapters. I see You as a God of love and compassion, so this destruction is very hard for me to reconcile.
Jeremiah 51:25a “I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the Lord….
Lord, I know You are with me every morning as I go through Your word. And perhaps that is the lesson here—that even in the destruction, even in my confusion, You are with me, drawing me closer to You.
Jeremiah 51:25b …“I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.”
Lord, Mornings like this, I feel I lack the Biblical knowledge to discuss what I am reading, but You know that my heart belongs to You and that every morning I seek You as I read Your word. Thank You for being with me always. Help me to shine Your light, to reflect Your love to others, always. Amen.
Jeremiah 51:26 “No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord.
Have a blessed day.
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Even when I don’t understand…. (devo reflection)

Jeremiah 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.”
There is a lot going on in this chapter, but the theme of redemption is strong here. Romans 8:28 was strongly on my mind as I read: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
Jeremiah 50:7 “Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture, the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.’”
I’m not going to lie, though, it took A LOT of destruction to reach this prophecy for redemption. I struggle with the destruction. And not to justify it, but just to try to reconcile it in my own mind, I do recognize that God took a fully rebellious people and brought them to a space where no guilt, no sin could any longer be found in them. That is miraculous.
Jeremiah 50:20 “In those days, at that time,” declares the Lord, “search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.”
Lord, I struggle with destruction, but I recognize that Your thoughts are not my thoughts and Your ways are far beyond anything I can imagine (Isaiah 55:8). I look at the world through human eyes and often miss eternal implications. Help me to trust You, even when I don’t understand. Draw me closer. Amen.
Jeremiah 50:31 “See, I am against you, you arrogant one,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty, “for your day has come, the time for you to be punished.”
Have a blessed day.
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Right relationship…. (devo reflection)

Jeremiah 49:4 Why do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? Unfaithful Daughter Ammon, you trust in your riches and say, ‘Who will attack me?’
Normally when I read scripture from the Old Testament, I am struck by God’s anger and vengeance. This time is different. I keep seeing, instead, God’s mercy and compassion, His overwhelming desire to bring us back into right relationship with Him. Psalm 51:17 comes to mind, which says: “The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
Jeremiah 49:6 “Yet afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites,” declares the Lord.
God’s not in the business of making us comfortable, wealthy, powerful, or influential. He is concerned about the state of our hearts and our eternal souls. He understands the world’s pull to self-reliance and self-sufficiency. He knows the eternal dangers and ramifications of that route. He doesn’t want that for us. He wants us to have rich, full lives in Him.
Jeremiah 49:11 “‘Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive. Your widows too can depend on me.’ ”
Lord, Thank You that I am able to see Your overwhelming love and compassion for Your people as I read Your scripture. Thank You for loving me too much to allow me to rely on myself. I know “The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Help me. Draw me closer. Amen.
Jeremiah 49:39 “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,” declares the Lord.
Have a blessed day.