Judgment on the Nations (1): Jeremiah 46-48.17 (3)

Pray Psalm 59.16, 17.
But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.

Sing Psalm 59.16, 17.
(Neumark: If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee)
But as for me, Your strength I’m singing;
with joy I sing Your grace, O Lord!
My trials and troubles I am bringing
to know the shelter of Your Word.
O God, my strength, I sing Your praise;
You are my stronghold all my days.

Read and meditate on Jeremiah 46.27, 28.

Prepare.
1. What did God say about the nations who had held His people captive?

2. What was God going to do with His people?

Meditate.
I’m quite certain that the writer of Hebrews had situations like this in mind when he wrote to us warning of God’s discipline, and saying that it is never pleasant (Heb. 12.3-11). Certainly the people of Jeremiah’s day were learning this lesson the hard way.

But unlike the conquering nations to which God had sent His people, the people of God would not cease to exist or to be His people (v. 28).

God promised that a day of rest was coming, in which His people would no longer live in fear (v. 27). He Himself would be with them, and He would destroy all their enemies. For now, the people had to be disciplined for their rebellion, but they would not be utterly destroyed. They were God’s people, and He had created them for His glory. What His people were experiencing was a time of correction, but this punishment would not last forever.

God corrects us from time to time. Sometimes He does this through His Word; at other times, He uses people or circumstances to break through our hardened hearts and bring us back to His righteous path. But He is with us always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28.20), and He will never fail us nor forsake us (Heb. 13.5). So whenever discipline comes, let’s learn what we can, repent where we must, and get back in step with the Lord.

Reflect.
1. For what kinds of things might we expect the discipline of the Lord?

2. When God disciplines us, what does that look like? What forms can His discipline take?

3. How should we respond when we feel that we have come under the discipline of the Lord?

Fear not, my servant Jacob. He then adds, I am with thee. And this promise, as it has been said, depends on gratuitous adoption, because God had chosen that people for himself, that they might be a priestly kingdom. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Jeremiah 46.28

Guide my steps today, O Lord, so that I will continue in Your path and…

Pray Psalm 59.1-15.
What challenges are you facing today? Call on the Lord to keep you through temptation or trial, and to deliver you in His strength.

Sing Psalm 59.1-15.
Psalm 59.1-15 (Neumark: If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee)
Deliver me from all my foes, Lord;
set me on high secure away;
From all who seek to work me woe, Lord,
deliver me from day to day.
For, lo, they seek to take my life;
fierce foes advance to bring me strife!

Not for transgressions they assault me,
nor any sin which I have done.
With nothing they can charge or fault me,
and yet to trouble me they run.
Arouse Yourself, O Lord, awake,
and come with haste my foes to break.

Like dogs at large within a city,
they bark and howl fierce threats at me.
They boast of evil without pity,
but You, O Lord, their treach’ry see.
Because of them I watch for You,
O God my strength, forever true!

My God in steadfast love will meet me,
and let me look triumphantly
On all my foes, who would defeat me
did not He shield and shelter me.
That men may know Your pow’r, O Lord,
subdue and rule them by Your Word.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).