Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 180

"Concerning the droughts"

Text: Jeremiah 14:1

A DIVINE ACT OF GOD

A divine act of God was performed and Judah found itself suffering dreaded severe droughts. The LORD gave a word to Jeremiah to speak to Judah.

“The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.
‘Judah mourns,
And her gates languish;
They mourn for the land,
And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
Their nobles have sent their lads for water;
They went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
They were ashamed and confounded
And covered their heads.'”
Jeremiah 14:1-3

1. “The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts”

a) This word came from the LORD.
b) Jeremiah was to address the problem of droughts in the land.
c) Without water, the country was severely affected.

2. “Judah mourns, and her gates languish; they mourn for the land, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up”

a) “Judah”
The whole kingdom was now mourning. No one was unaffected.
b) “And her gates languish”
i) The gates offered protection to the cities.
ii) They were meeting places for merchants to sell their wares.
iii) The gates were languishing instead of flourishing.
c) Mourning for the land.
i) The droughts had been severe.
ii) All mourned in despair.
d) Jerusalem where the Temple was.
i) Prayers mount up.
ii) Great was the pleading of the people.

3. “Their nobles have sent their lads for water; they went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads”

a) The nobles
i) They could be members of the royal family.
ii) They could be wealthy and powerful people.
b) They had many servants.
i) These had been sent out to find water.
ii) But they found nothing.
iii) Their cisterns were depleted.
iv) The vessels that were brought yielded nothing at all.
c) Failure was experienced.
i) With failure came a sense of shame.
ii) They covered their heads to prevent people from seeing their failure to find water.