DAY 221 Read Jeremiah 31; 27; 28.
Today's reading: These chapters reveal a striking contrast--God's forgiving love to those who repent, and the helpless fate of those who persist in wickedness.
Memory gem: "They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34).
Thought for today:
There was a little boy at our house who slipped out one day to watch a heavy scraper at work cutting out a roadway on the side of the mountain. This was contrary to his mother's instructions; but, as she was away for a few hours, the temptation was great. It was so nice to play behind the chugging tractor! But things went wrong, and he got into trouble. While by God's blessing he was not killed, in a moment he was all scratched up and covered with dirt and had lost a shoe. He began to cry and call for his daddy; then he came hobbling into the study where Daddy was at work on a sermon for The Voice of Prophecy broadcast.
Did that father forgive him? Ah, yes. And as he stood there in his penitent tears and fright and dirt, with one shoe off and one shoe on, I think his father only loved him more. Would he turn him away? Never in this world.
It's when we come to our heavenly Father for help--when we run to Him in our danger and loss and need and disobedience--that we find help. It is only when we want to be forgiven that we are forgiven.
Someone reading this story may look into his own heart, and it will look so dark that he will say, "I'm afraid I'm beyond forgiveness." If you are looking at yourself and are utterly discouraged, look in another direction. Friend, you have looked at yourself and you are discouraged. Of course you are when you do that. Look now at Christ, and you will have hope.
NOTE: Chapter 31 continues the message of chapter 30, which Jeremiah wrote after the interchange of letters with the false prophets.
Jeremiah 27:1 says, "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim." Verse 12 says, "I spake also to Zedekiah." Several Hebrew manuscripts have "Zedekiah" in verse 1, and the whole chapter, with chapter 28, obviously belongs to Zedekiah's time.
Today's reading: These chapters reveal a striking contrast--God's forgiving love to those who repent, and the helpless fate of those who persist in wickedness.
Memory gem: "They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34).
Thought for today:
There was a little boy at our house who slipped out one day to watch a heavy scraper at work cutting out a roadway on the side of the mountain. This was contrary to his mother's instructions; but, as she was away for a few hours, the temptation was great. It was so nice to play behind the chugging tractor! But things went wrong, and he got into trouble. While by God's blessing he was not killed, in a moment he was all scratched up and covered with dirt and had lost a shoe. He began to cry and call for his daddy; then he came hobbling into the study where Daddy was at work on a sermon for The Voice of Prophecy broadcast.
Did that father forgive him? Ah, yes. And as he stood there in his penitent tears and fright and dirt, with one shoe off and one shoe on, I think his father only loved him more. Would he turn him away? Never in this world.
It's when we come to our heavenly Father for help--when we run to Him in our danger and loss and need and disobedience--that we find help. It is only when we want to be forgiven that we are forgiven.
Someone reading this story may look into his own heart, and it will look so dark that he will say, "I'm afraid I'm beyond forgiveness." If you are looking at yourself and are utterly discouraged, look in another direction. Friend, you have looked at yourself and you are discouraged. Of course you are when you do that. Look now at Christ, and you will have hope.
NOTE: Chapter 31 continues the message of chapter 30, which Jeremiah wrote after the interchange of letters with the false prophets.
Jeremiah 27:1 says, "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim." Verse 12 says, "I spake also to Zedekiah." Several Hebrew manuscripts have "Zedekiah" in verse 1, and the whole chapter, with chapter 28, obviously belongs to Zedekiah's time.
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