THE LORD SPOKE (October 31)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Jeremiah 49-50

The noose was tightening. Israel got her 40+ chapters in Jeremiah’s book already but now she watches as the surrounding nations are picked off one by one:

• Egypt (46:1-28)
• Philistia (47:1-7)
• Moab (48:1-47)
• Ammon (49:1-6)
• Edom (49:7-22)
• Damascus (49:23-27)
• Kedar & Hazor (49:28-33)
• Elam (49:34-39)

[drumroll...]

• Babylon (50:1 - 51:64)

Two whole chapters! The best (in this case, the worst, for Babylon) was saved for last. Gloating aside, didn’t they deserve it?

Israel was hardly in a position to find much comfort in her arch-enemy’s fall but God did sandwich in one of the greatest promises yet made to Israel. Take a look at Jeremiah 50:4-5...

“In those days, at that time,” declares the Lord,
“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together
will go in tears to seek the Lord their God.
They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it.
They will come and bind themselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.”

What a promise. After so much misery and so many forgotten covenant promises, the people of Israel would finally bind themselves to the Lord. How many tears had they already shed? But now, they would seek the Lord through those tears and, just like the merciful God that He is, He would take them back.

How about you? Are you tired of fighting against God’s way for you? Are you ready to “let go, and let God”?

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Just as I am - Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve.
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!


Psalms 89-90

Establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands. (Ps. 90:17)

Every man is concerned about “what they’ll think when I’m gone”. We’re properly thoughtful about our legacy. While we know that our life is but a vapor, we still want our existence to have some significance.

For what do we live? What meaning or purpose is served by our life on earth? There is some value in physical building. If “the work of our hands” entails construction and there is some physical structure left behind, people will see and know that.

Or, will they? Buildings crumble and are eventually torn down. Or they’re remodeled and changed from their original purpose or use. Someone else comes along and the past is quickly forgotten. Even if a person’s name is put on a building, the person is frequently forgotten in one generation. As great as it might be, is that the sum total of what you want your life to produce? a building?

This psalm is identified as a prayer of Moses. What buildings did Moses leave behind? We can’t even identify his grave site. It’s not like they didn’t know how to build back then. As prince of Egypt, Moses could have left us another pyramid. Aren’t you glad he didn’t? Aren’t you glad he chose rather to leave a legacy of spiritual brick-laying that lasts right down to our own day? Aren’t you glad “he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time” (Heb. 11:25)?

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Moses did this because “he was looking ahead to his reward” (Heb. 11:26). And so he built carefully into the lives of two whole generations of Israelites. The first generation failed miserably and all died in the desert. But out of that tumbleweed came the seeds of a mighty nation of chosen people. Yes, many of the second generation failed also. But there is today a continuing Jewish race and a people back in the Land of Israel because of Moses’ good work.

Of course, it was God who did it. But he did it through a man. Many others followed Moses but they all have looked back to him, read his words, and followed his example. The favor of the Lord “rested upon him” and God established the work of his hands.

Is that your prayer today?

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who've gone before us
Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness
Passed on through godly lives

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful