DCLM Daily Manna 6 August 2022 — Needless Suffering
DCLM Daily Manna 6 August 2022 Devotional by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Needless Suffering
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TOPIC: NEEDLESS SUFFERING
TEXT: LAMENTATIONS 5:10-22
10Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
11They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
12Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
13They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
14The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.
15The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
16The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
17For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
18Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
19Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
20Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
21Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
22But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
KEY VERSE: “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old” (LAMENTATIONS 5:21).
MESSAGE:
Jeremiah has been labelled ‘the weeping man of God’, on account of the elegy he was inspired to write after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians about 600 years before the time of Jesus Christ. Following his moving literary work recorded in the Old Testament as the book of Lamentations, the world coined the word, ‘jeremiad’, to describe any literature that mourns a tragedy. There are few written works that portray the despair and loss Judah suffered at the hands of the enemy.
In our text, Jeremiah had repeatedly warned of the dire consequences of the disobedience of his people to the laws of God. He spoke of their rebellion and rejection of His ways. Jeremiah delivered the Lord’s stern plea asking them to forsake their apostasy or face the disastrous results of a 70-year captivity. They ignored him and threw the Lord’s messenger into prison, threatening to kill him.
Jeremiah did not budge. He preached until God’s word was fulfilled, with Jerusalem overrun and the great Temple, razed. He lamented in the wake of the massive ruin and desolation of his compatriots. It is impossible for the recalcitrant sinner to escape divine judgment.
Still, as he concluded his dirge, Jeremiah asked the loving and compassionate God to put upon His people, the spirit of penitence and supplication, so they would ask to return to Him and again experience the joy of the days of old. The believer ought not to learn of the mercy of his Redeemer only after he has been whipped by the devil when he strays into his territory through the sin of disobedience.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: People suffer needlessly through careless living.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JOHN 13-15
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
1. Admit that you are a sinner. "For all [humans] have sinned, and comes short of the glory of God....[and] the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 3:23)
2. Repent now. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out ...[for] if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness " (Acts 3:19, 1 John 1:9)
3. Believe that God loves you and Jesus died for you. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet Sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)
4. Invite Jesus into your life through prayer of faith. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20)
