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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.
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God values relationship with His people…. (devo reflection)

Jeremiah 48:1 Concerning Moab: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold a will be disgraced and shattered.”
This story of the fate of Moab seems to mirror in many ways the fate of Israel during the book of Jeremiah. They turned their backs on God, trusted in their own deeds and riches. Their hearts and actions moved further from Him until drastic measures were needed to bring them back. (Remember, God values relationship with His people.)
Jeremiah 48:7 Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.
Again, God is talking to me in this chapter about pride. This seems an extreme example of when pride turns to self-sufficiency, turns to self-destruction. Those times when I didn’t get what I felt I deserved, leading me to be bitter and resentful but eventually drawing me closer to God, were those times designed to keep me from personal destruction like that experienced in Moab?
Jeremiah 48:8 The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the Lord has spoken.
Lord, Help me always to remember Your words in Isaiah 55:8: “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” What appears to me as unfairness could be You steering me closer to You to keep me from self-destruction. Thank You for Your love, grace, and mercy. Amen.
Jeremiah 48:47 “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come,” declares the Lord. Here ends the judgment on Moab.
Have a blessed day.
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Seeking and finding…. (devo reflection)

Jeremiah 47:6a “‘Alas, sword of the Lord, how long till you rest?…’”
Commentary quotes Clark, who calls “This a most grand prosopopoeia [a figure of speech in which an abstract thing is personified] — a dialogue between the sword of the Lord and the prophet.” Since this was the first time I can remember coming across this literary term, I was definitely intrigued.
Jeremiah 47:6b “…’Return to your sheath; cease and be still.’”
As I did more research, though, I realized I use prosopopoeia a lot. The definition includes speaking to the dead as if they are living or the absent as if they are present. I talk to God, whom I’ve never physically seen, as though He is present (because I truly believe He is) all the time. Sometimes I beg, sometimes yell, sometimes praise (Trust me, I’m working on much more praise. It’s a process.) I call those conversations “faith.” I think it’s neat there is a literary term for it as well.
Jeremiah 47:7a “But how can it rest when the Lord has commanded it…”
Lord, Every morning I come before You to seek You, to see what You would say to my heart. Sometimes, like this morning, I’m a bit surprised at the direction You take me, but I’m thankful that You always draw me closer, always speak to my heart, my soul, my mind. Help me to always seek to know You more. Amen.
Jeremiah 47:7b “…when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”
Have a blessed day.
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God is the only thing I need…. (devo reflection)

Jeremiah 46:27a “Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile….”
The Lord deeply loves His people. He wants honest, close relationship with them. He gave the Israelites numerous chances to mend their ways, to return and repent, before He sent them into exile. Their pride knew no bounds and God knew that for them to be able to live the life He had for them, they had to be humbled, their hearts of stone had to be broken to be filled with God’s mercy and compassion.
Jeremiah 46:27b “…Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid.”
I am floored by the parallels to my own life. The times when my pride, my arrogance led me to see things as my right and my due. And God knew the toll it would take, leading me step by step away from Him. So He led me instead into a wilderness so that I could realize He is the only thing I need. And even in the chastisement, He consoled and comforted. He drew me closer.
Jeremiah 46:28a “Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, for I am with you,” declares the Lord. “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you….”
Lord, I am at a loss for words this morning, humbled by Your love of me. Thank You for not allowing me to have my way, which would lead me further from You. Thank You for the thankfulness and gratefulness that come with a humble and contrite heart. Help me to live in Your grace and shine Your light. Amen.
Jeremiah 46:28b “…I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”
Have a blessed day.