By Pastor William Y. K. Brown Ph.D
(Resident Pastor)
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Osu-Bethel.
Tel: 0244165628/0243310773.
wykbrown@gmail.com
MONDAY
THEME: IF YOU WERE JEREMIAH, WOULD YOU STILL SERVE GOD?
SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 3:31-33
“[31]For the Lord will not cast off forever. [32]Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. [33]For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.”
REFLECTIONS:
You cannot study the life of the prophet Jeremiah and feel that your situation is so desperate and hopeless that it cannot be fixed. Neither can you conclude that your circumstances are worse than his. You cannot in any way compare your protracted suffering to Jeremiah’s many years of persecution and hatred or settle that God does not love or care for you. Remember, for Jeremiah, God even sanctified him in the womb for this task and suffering for the glory of God. His suffering for the people God desired strongly to save predates Christ’s suffering for humanity, which ended with the sad comment: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” – John 1:11 (Isaiah 53:3).
Jeremiah had one of the bitterest suffering experiences that a person can endure for representing God. The prophet got frustrated several times and even wept. His warning messages put him in trouble and jeopardy. Yet, he admitted that God tests the righteous. In Jeremiah 20:12, he said, “But, O Lord of hosts, You who test the righteous, And see the mind and heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them; For I have pleaded my cause before You.” Even with this admission, he was pained and wished he had not been born. Verses 14 and 18 read, [14]Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! [18]Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, That my days should be consumed with shame?” Is this similar to your experience? You are a committed Christian, but you are going through a terrible experience for which you have waited on God, but there seems to be no answer. Beloved, wait! (Read Psalm 27:13,14).
Interestingly, God would speak to him whenever Jeremiah got despaired and crestfallen. In Jeremiah 15:18, he asked: “Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail?” Then the Lord reassures Jeremiah in verses 20-21: “And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; And they will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you,” says the Lord. [21]“I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.” Amen and Amen. Suffering is not the last; victory is.
Through life’s trials and struggles, anyone who feels dejected, lonely, disappointed in God, or betrayed by Him has this to memorize and claim: “For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.” If anyone thinks that because disaster has struck, God does not care; we recommend that you study the life of Jeremiah in the Book of Jeremiah and Lamentations. The Lord will surely bless and reward your faith in Him.
MY SONG OF COMMITMENT
SDAH 622 – “Come, Come, Ye Saints” – Rendered by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
LET US PRAY
– Praise and thank God for being there for you always; thank God for His specific interventions in your life; pray to hold on to God despite all the difficulties and pain you endure;
– Pray for anyone in your sphere of influence who has a protracted challenge – family issues, chronic ailment, debt, lost loved one or property, business failures, and unemployment;
– Pray for victims of war and disasters, refugees and asylum seekers, resources for humanitarian agencies, human trafficking, and accidents;
– Pray for peace, prosperity, effective social support and care, the pursuit of righteousness in the land, and healing and restoration for those waiting for God.
