Devotion for Wednesday 9 June
Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapter 8 verse 9, “Since the wise have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom is in them,” ( NRSVB). The prophet Jeremiah prophesied of great woes to the people whom God has led out from Egypt to the Promised Land, the people with whom He made his covenant of peace and stability as long as they served the Lord, their God, with all of their being. “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your mind and heart and with your entire being and with all your might,” Deuteronomy 6 verse 5, (Amplified Bible). Israel, the people of God, whom God has chosen to be a light to the nations of the world as they live in their covenant relationship with God, their Father, have rejected Him and have turned to idols. They have refused to repent and to turn back to God, for they have started to rely on the wisdom of their leaders, instead of obeying the Wisdom of God. This wisdom that was given to them through the Scripture, as was revealed in his Words, namely the Books of the Law of the Lord, the Books of the Prophets and the Books of the Writings of Wisdom.
Initially the words of Jeremiah were well received by the leadership under King Josiah, who ruled in Judah from 640 to 609 B.C. King Josiah started with great religious reforms and heeded the words of Jeremiah that caused a turning of the people, back to their Lord, God. However, following the death of King Josiah, who respected and listened to the prophet Jeremiah, the prophet faced a period in his life and ministry of persecutions and imprisonments, alternating with short periods of freedom. Jeremiah preached sermons of woe, and warned that the Chosen People of God had to return to the Lord, God, or else they would live to see captivity and the destruction of the temple. As the Babylonian Empire became stronger and stronger in the Ancient Near East, the attacks became more intense. They took many of the inhabitants as captives to Babylon and finally destroyed the temple, as Jeremiah prophesied, in 586 BC.
Despite the dangerous times that Jeremiah lived in, God protected him and gave him courage to continue to proclaim the word of the Lord, calling the wayward people to return to their God, and giving words of encouragement to the believing remnant, telling of future hope and salvation. In this Chapter, containing the prophecies of Jeremiah, we read how the birds of God’s creation know the wisdom of God and follow this wisdom that He revealed to them by migrating at his command. “Even the migratory birds are punctual to their seasons. Yes, the stork, excelling in the great height of her flight in the heavens, knows her appointed time of migration, and the turtle dove and the swallow, and the crane observe their time of return. But, My people do not know the law of the Lord which the lower animals instinctively recognize in so far as it applies to them,” we read in verse 9, (Amplified Bible). The prophet compared the obedience to God’s laws, being observed by the animal kingdom, as an example to the human kingdoms who have exulted themselves above God. They are glorifying their deceitful wisdom, that causes opposition to God and his laws. It will only be a matter of time, Jeremiah foretold, and the wisdom of men will be exposed for what it is, lies and deceit, rebelliousness against God. The wisdom of humanity believes that it is able to create its own peace, however, that is a fragile and unstable peace.
We are living in times which parallel the times of Jeremiah, as we witness the opposition against the Laws of God and his wisdom, versus the wisdom of the world and her wise. God is not respected and feared, but disregarded on every level of society. Those who regard Him are depicted as unwise and their words of counsel are rejected. Humans are in total awe of themselves and their achievements. They consider themselves able to save humanity from calamity, relying on their wisdom, their science and their technology. As it was in the times of Jeremiah, so we are experiencing a fall away from the Word of the Lord, and his ordinances. We experience the rejection of God in the leadership of nations, for the Word of God is not preached, nor taught to the people. The new generations are not receiving the foundational wisdom that is grounded on the love, trust and fear of the Lord.
Despite the situation in the world today, as in the times of Jeremiah, we are given the promise of Christ, the Messiah. After the Babylonian Captivity, Israel did return to Jerusalem and the Temple was restored, and the Messiah was born in Bethlehem, He the Light of the World. We know that Christ will return in glory and shine the light of his wisdom and love on the people. Then they will return to their God, and worship him in truth, with all their hearts and minds.
The writer of the Book to the Hebrews, in Chapter Two verse One, encourages us to keep the faith and hold on to the truth that has been revealed to us through the teaching and preaching of the Scriptures, “Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it,” (NRSVB). Let us hold fast to what we have known and heed the wisdom that God has given us through his grace, growing in us faith daily, to wait for him and look out for his deliverance in these times of calamity. “For because Christ, Himself, in His humanity, has suffered in being tempted, tested and tried, He is able to immediately come, to run to the cry of, and assist and relieve those who are being tempted and tested and tried, and who are therefore being exposed to suffering,” Hebrews 2 verse 18, (Amplified Bible). Let us come to the Lord and trust in his protection and his promises to renew our faith, and cast away our doubts, as we cling to the wisdom of his revealed word.
Father, we thank you that you have not left us as orphans, but have sent your Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who opens our eyes and understanding to receive your Wisdom, the Wisdom of pure Truth and Life, Amen.
