Jeremiah 30:12-22 (NRSV)
Read Jeremiah 30:12-22 on biblegateway.com
Verse 12For thus says the Lord: Your hurt is incurable, your wound is grievous. Verse 13There is no one to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. Verse 14All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are so numerous. Verse 15Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are so numerous, I have done these things to you. Verse 16Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I will make a prey. Verse 17For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: "It is Zion; no one cares for her!"
Verse 18Thus says the Lord: I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound, and the citadel set on its rightful site. Verse 19Out of them shall come thanksgiving, and the sound of merrymakers. I will make them many, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be disdained. Verse 20Their children shall be as of old, their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them. Verse 21Their prince shall be one of their own, their ruler shall come from their midst; I will bring him near, and he shall approach me, for who would otherwise dare to approach me? says the Lord. Verse 22And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Devotion
In the course of his ministry, Jesus talked a lot. During Lent, he focuses on the season’s disciplines: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. But as Lent grinds to a close, Jesus becomes quieter. For once, Jesus isn’t talking; the Gospels are little help in portraying Jesus’ thoughts. Turn to the psalms, particularly the psalms of lament. When torture drained him of speech, Jesus took comfort in these. They gave voice to his anguish. He died with a psalm on his lips: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1). The psalms prayed for Jesus when he could not find his own words, and they pray for us.
Prayer
Suffering God, we know you hear our words when we cannot speak them. You feel what we cannot bring to speech. Send your Spirit to intercede for us “with sighs too deep for words.” Teach us to pray for one another. Especially today we lift up in prayer: (add names of those to pray for). We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.