Walk Your Daily With The Lord Daily Devotions

THURSDAY, 11 MAY 2023

TEXT: Jeremiah 13:1-17

1: This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”

2: So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

3: Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:

4: “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.”

5: So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.

6: Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.”

7: So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

8: Then the word of the Lord came to me:

9: “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10: These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless!

11: For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’

12: “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’

13: then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem.

14: I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”

15: Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the Lord has spoken.

16: Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom.

17: If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: DON’T SOIL YOUR CLOTH

The Lord, through Jeremiah, shows why the cloth of the righteous gets contaminated. The same cloth that has been used to cover them is no longer useful.

Why?

They were proud and refused to listen to God an stubbornly followed their own desires and worshipped other gods. People who had been enjoying the favor, blessing and provision of the Lord had now become a people with a rotten cloth that cannot be used.

This is what happens to the people of God who abandon Him and start running after other gods.

You may be a people of God enjoying all the benefits of being His children but when you turn your back on Him, the cloth which He used to cover you may be removed or contaminated. And you will be exposed to attacks from the devil.

QUESTION: How is your attitude right now towards God? is your cloth stained?

PRAYER: Oh Lord, please help me not to perish from the stubbornness of my heart. Let me never depart from serving You in sincerity. Amen.