Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 (NRSV)
Read Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 on biblegateway.com
Verse 7Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you. Verse 8O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night? Verse 9Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!
Verse 10Thus says the Lord concerning this people: Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the Lord does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. Verse 19Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead. Verse 20We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you. Verse 21Do not spurn us, for your name's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us. Verse 22Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.
Devotion
I live in a farming community in South Dakota where weather is generally a topic of conversation. Extreme patterns of drought and rain greatly influence those who live here. This summer, there were near record rainfalls which drowned out fields and damaged acres of crops. I’ve also seen extreme drought where strong winds created drifts in ditches along the highways from the blowing powder dry dirt. During a year of extremes, like the people in Jeremiah, we pray to our hope and savior pleading, “Have you completely rejected us, Lord? Why have you struck us down?”
Like Jeremiah, we realize we have no place else to go. But during years of beautiful weather and normal growing season, we often fail to give thanks for the normal.
We are reminded of this as we pray as part of the order of Confession and Forgiveness: “Forgive us our sins, known and unknown, things we have done and things we have failed to do.”
Prayer
Forgiving Father, too often we fail to recognize how blessed we are and give thanks to you for the normal. Forgive us our unknown sins, for those things we fail to do, and when we turn to you only when we are in distress. Amen.
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