Sabbath Thought - God's Mercies

Being human, it is all too easy for us to focus on bad news, on difficulties, or when life simply doesn't go our way.  We can lament about a job we should have accepted, the college degree we should have pursued, or the missed opportunity.  Add to these thoughts, uncertain news on the world stage and it is easy to see why mankind doesn't think God is interested in the affairs of men (if they believe in Him at all).

There is even a book in the Bible that reflects (to a degree) this type of thinking.  That book is Lamentations.  The book was written sometime shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6 B.C., and Jeremiah is generally credited with writing the book.

Jeremiah had warned Israel to change her ways before it was too late.  They had corrupted the worship of the Eternal, they profaned the Sabbath, they worshipped in form and they believed the false prophets who preached that all would be fine (with the foreign alliances and the Temple).  Jeremiah warned that if they did not change, they would reap the consequences of their rebellion.  There are a great many parallels between Lamentations and Deuteronomy 28, reminding us that God will punish the curse of rebellion.

The Israelites believed that the sacred vessels and the Temples would not be allowed to be taken captive by God - even though God warned them through Isaiah and Jeremiah that's exactly what He would do.  God used Babylon as His rod of punishment with the fall of the southern kingdom, but Israel still had not learned their lesson as Zedekiah tried to throw off the Babylonian yoke. Babylon sieged Jerusalem. There was a famine in the city (a truly horrible chapter in Judah's history) and a final fall of the city.  This time the Babylonians broke up the city, burned the Temple, Zedekiah's sons were killed, the king himself blinded and the nobility taken to Babylon.

Jeremiah wrote this book lamenting (hence the name of the book) over the state of Judah and Jerusalem.  In spite of his decades of prophesying on God's behalf as to what would happen to Judah, he was deeply grieved over the destruction of the nation.  As you read the book you can hear his pain.  But Jeremiah also knew God's plan of restoration for His people, and in chapter 3:22-26 he writes this: "The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.  I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!"  The LORD is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him.  So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD," (New Living Translation).

Part of the reason God preserves so much history in His Word is so His people can learn from the mistakes of those who went before.  Judah should have learned from the captivity of the northern ten tribes, but instead believed that God would never destroy His Temple.  What have we learned from all that God's church has gone through in the last 100 years?

We can lament the troubling things that come along in our life, or that we see playing out in the world around us, but we should never forget that God's mercies never cease, that He is faithful, that His love for us never ceases, and so we should remember to obey and serve Him.

On this Sabbath day, may we wait quietly for His salvation to be realized in each of us!

I wish you a spiritually restful Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

10 January, 2020