Charlie and I read two Chapters in the Bible each evening. We are about halfway through Jeremiah. This book has 59 Chapters so that means for the past 15 days we have been wading through Israel’s apostasy, unfaithfulness, and stubborn idolatry, the godlessness of Judah and Jerusalem, Judah’s impending punishment, and the cup of the Lord’s wrath.
Each evening, we look at each other and sigh, because it sounds pretty much like what is America today.
One of my favorite Chapters so far is 24–the good and bad figs. The bad figs “will be made a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.. And, I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their fathers.”
The Lord exhorts us to repentance. One of the things that He wants from us is to stop shedding innocent blood. He tells us that if we turn away from our sin and turn back to Him, He will relent and not punish us forever.
Believe it or not, reading Jeremiah has produced in me a joyfulness. It’s hard to explain. I think it’s because there is always hope. The Lord shows us the way to that hope. We have to turn to and trust in Him. That is true joy!
Dr. Linda L. Powell 