Daily Devotional For Saturday, March 8, 2025
It’s Saturday and time to rest and relax. One thing that stands true about life is how unpredictable it can be. We get up in the morning and we have a day laid out and planned and then there is a hiccup or two with it. Proverbs 16:9 says, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps” (NLT). Most of us do not like disruptions to our plans, but what if those disruptions were being caused by God to bring glory to Himself through our life and response?
When it comes to our culture, it seems that we are not evolving as the evolutionists say we are, but de-evolving. Things are not getting better because of the devil, evil and sin in this world, but there is hope – Jesus Christ. When Israel was under the guidance of prophets, Jeremiah was one of them. Because of Israel’s rebellion, God punished them by sending Assyria in 722 BC, and then Babaylon in 606 BC, 598 BC and 586 BC to conquer them. As a result, many of God’s prophets were carried off to live in exile in these foreign countries such as Daniel, Nehemiah and Ezra.
Jeremiah lived initially in Judah under Assyrian domination with a threat of Egyptian attacks. The king of Judah was King Manasseh, a very evil king. His father Hezekiah had purged Judah of Baal worship and the Asherah pole. He instituted pagan worship in the Temple and even made child sacrifices to gods such as Molech as a practice, one of them being his own son. We read this in 2 Kings 21:2-9. He also practiced sorcery and divination. Jeremiah was raised by godly, priestly parents, who were a minority. As a youth he was called by God to a prophet. He prophesied Judah’s destruction by Babylon.
Old Testament scholar John Bright writes this about Jeremiah:
“Jeremiah is to see him as the most “human” of all the prophets. More is known about the personal and inner life of Jeremiah than any other prophet. Given to alternating moods of despair and exaltation, it is easier, perhaps, for us to identify with him than with a prophet as majestic and remote as Isaiah, as self-disciplined and visionary as Ezekiel, or as fiery as Amos” (Source. John Bright, Jeremiah: Introduction, p. xv).
Assyria conquered Judah but Babylon destroyed her. Even with this, God inspired Jeremiah to write this in Jeremiah 24:7, “I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart” (NASB). We live in a country with good laws and bad people. Would you rather live in a nation of bad people with good laws or a nation of good people with bad laws? The answer is simple: Bad people will tear down good laws, but good people will work to repair bad laws.
Because the root of our problems is spiritual, our bigger goal should be to change people’s hearts. None of our opportunities to combat evil have been particularly successful. In order to bring real and lasting change, we need more people with a heart for God, people who want to uphold His principles and see them influence our world. We’re going to need to do more than study and talk about religious doctrines.
I know that liberals worked hard to get devotionals out of schools. Growing up as a kid, every day someone – a teacher, or administrator and in high school, even a student – would give the devotional thought for the day. I was one of them in high school. We began the day with God and were reminded that we are indebted to God for all we have. Back then, did we have students, even bad students, yes. But even back then, we did not have any school shootings. Those started after some bad, evil and very sinful people decided to make students more sinful, evil and no regard to answering to God one day.
Proverbs 29:18a says, “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained” (NASB), The Hebrew word translated as “vision” is [חָזוֹן, chazcn]. A better translation would be the word “revelation” – meaning revelation from God. We get revelation from God’s Word and we got it everyday in school until some very evil people decided evil over righteousness was preferable, school shootings over school devotionals were preferable. Oh, we have “evolved” in this culture of ours, haven’t we? Where people have no revelation or truth from God, they will remove all restraints of control. We are seeing that today in our country and even in some so-called “churches.”
Being a minority in evil is a way of life for God’s people. In the Old Testament, such people are referred to as a “remnant.” Today, so many people, even some that call themselves Christians want to be liked, accepted, and perceived as “rocking the boat.” We’re going to need to live our faith in a way that introduces people to Jesus and, in turn, sparks a passion in them to lead others to Him. As God’s people, let’s unapologetically and unabashedly live out our faith for the glory of God.
Questions To Consider
- Jeremiah is called the “weeping prophet” because he was heartbroken over Judah’s disobedience, God’s punishment of His own people and devastation that brought. Go with me on this for a moment. If God were to give you a grade of how heart-broken you are over the amount of evil and sin in your life you have, what grade would He give you and why? Over our culture?
- When you are around your closest friends and/or family, would God say they see more of the Light of Christ or more of the darkness of the devil in your actions, attitudes and attributes? Why?
- What do you think it would take to turn our country around and whatever that is, how willing are you to be a part to make that happen as Jeremiah did in his day?
Scripture To Meditate On: Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. (7) Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: ”Heavenly Father, thank You for those in our former generations who walked with You in such a way that You could abundantly bless them. Today, help us boldly lead with our faith in the public arenas. Forgive us for having been timid, embarrassed, or distracted. Grant us courage and strength for new responses, resulting in new outcomes, so Your abundant blessings might be upon the next generation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly