Daily Bible Study

Tweet

Day 5 Lamentations 5 5:1 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. 4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. 5 Our necks are under persecution: we labor, and have no rest. 6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. 8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. 9 We got our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. 11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honored. 13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. 14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. 15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. 16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! 17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. 18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. 19 Thou, O LORD, remain forever; thy throne from generation to generation. 20 Wherefore dost thou forget us forever, and forsake us so long time? 21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. 22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us. When people are at their utter end, they tend to pray. They might never have done so in the past, but suddenly they look to God for help out of their situations. Jeremiah asked God to look at their condition. He told God about their lack of food, and the ravishment of their women. He asked God to look at them, to regard them as he had done in the beginning, and they would renew their covenant with him. He didn’t want to see God’s anger any longer. As Christians, you can recall your life before you accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. You remember where your life was and what caused you to look to God for answers. You might have slid away from your relationship with God, and Jesus your Savior, and the situation you’re in is meant to bring you back to him. Just as God intended Judah to look at their sin and remember how good their life was with him when they obeyed him, God wants you to remember what your life was like when you accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord and you committed your life to God, promising to follow him the rest of your life. Judah and Israel’s exile was not meant to be permanent, but temporary. Your situation is not meant to be permanent either, but a means for you to look at your life, examine it, and return to God who loves you. God wants to bless you. He wants to defeat your enemies, not have them defeat you. If you have strayed from God, take a moment to examine your life, and return to him, and he will return to you and will bless you, and take your enemies out of your way. Jesus told John to write several letters to the churches, asking them to repent and return to him. He showed them their strengths and their weakness, and told them if they didn’t return, they would no longer be able to enjoy his presence. Revelation 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things says he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; 2 I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. 6 But this thou hast, that thou hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. God wants to bless you. He doesn’t want to see you living in the situation you find yourself. Return to him, and he will return to you. Let’s pray: Father, help me keep my eyes and heart on you. Help me examine my life daily to make certain I am still living my life for you. Keep me from straying from you. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Copyright © 18 December 2017 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay