Personal Devotions
Notes from Mark's personal Bible reading and meditation
With a goal to apply one truth from each day's reading to my life that day
Jun 20, 2024, 2:16 AM
Passage Read: Lamentations 1-4
Meditation Verses: 4:13-16
Thought
The prophets and priests sinned against the Lord, shedding the blood of the righteous in their streets, so the people became defiled with blood. They themselves cried out that they were unclean, and the nations refused to give them refuge. But then the Lord says He scattered them and will not care for them because they did not honor priest or favor the elders. The priests were those who killed the righteous! But they were not always so. The priests did not turn away from the Lord without some incentive.
Jun 1, 2023, 10:41 AM
Passage Read: Lamentations 1-4
Meditation Verses: 3:19-23
Thought
These latter two verses are very famous and recited for comfort, but the context makes them even more tragic. In the midst of his affliction and the tragedy of the overthrow of Judah and Jerusalem, Jeremiah recognizes that the reason there is a tiny remnant left is because of the Lord's great love and His compassion that is new every morning. This is not the victory that it first seems, but recognition that despite the wickedness with which they have provoked the Lord, a remnant of Israel survives because of the Lord's compassion.