TUESDAY, 16 APRIL 2024
TEXT:
Jeremiah 6:1-19
1:
“Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in
Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the
north, even terrible destruction.
2:
I will destroy Daughter Zion, so beautiful and delicate.
3:
Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents
around her, each tending his own portion.”
4:
“Prepare for battle against her! Arise, let us attack at noon! But, alas, the
daylight is fading, and the shadows of evening grow long.
5:
So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses!”
6:
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Cut down the trees and build siege ramps
against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression.
7:
As a well pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness. Violence and
destruction resound in her; her sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8:
Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land
desolate so no one can live in it.”
9:
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Let them glean the remnant of Israel as
thoroughly as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again, like one
gathering grapes.”
10:
To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are
closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they
find no pleasure in it.
11:
But I am full of the wrath of the Lord, and I cannot hold it in. “Pour it out
on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both
husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with
years.
12:
Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and
their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,”
declares the Lord.
13:
“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests
alike, all practice deceit.
14:
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace,
peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.
15:
Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they
will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord.
16:
This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the
ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find
rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17:
I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
18:
Therefore hear, you nations; you who are witnesses, observe what will happen to
them.
19:
Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.
(New International Version Holy
Bible)
TOPIC:
IMPENDING JUDGEMENT OVER A REBELLIOUS NATION
Even
though Jerusalem was doomed for judgement, God warned the people of Benjamin to
flee for safety because He is a God of justice. They fled and lived in the
kinds of places we refer today as Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps.
But
for the grace Nigeria is still enjoying, many more citizens would have fled the
country due to terrorists' and bandits' attacks, poverty, religious
persecution, etc. Jerusalem was full of oppression, wickedness, violence,
destruction and arrant disregard for God's warning.
Sadly,
none was exempted from the corruption that pervaded the land, including the
prophets and the priests. No wonder, judgement was inevitable. We must heed
God's warning so as to escape our own impending judgement.
QUESTION:
How can our own country escape the kind of disaster that was hanging over
Jerusalem?
PRAYER:
Grant me the grace, dear Lord, to dare to stand apart from the corruption and
rebelliousness that pervade our land, in Jesus name. Amen.
Remain
Blessed
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