Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"There is hope in your future"
Text: Jeremiah 31:17
FIGHTING DESPAIR
Despair is a very difficult enemy to fight. The feelings of discouragement were so deep and negative, many found it difficult to believe in the future. The LORD sought to address this problem of despair forthrightly.
“Thus says the LORD:
‘Refrain your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tears;
For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD,
And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
There is hope in your future, says the LORD,
That your children shall come back to their own border.'”
Jeremiah 31:16-17
1. “Thus says the LORD”
a) The people must give ear to the message that was given.
b) This word came from the LORD God Himself!
2. “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears”
a) Weeping is understandable.
i) The loss of lives is painful.
ii) The loss of children is even more painful.
b) But tears and weeping can be dangerous.
i) It can lead to despair.
ii) It can lead to ruin.
c) Restraint must be exercised.
i) Grieving must not continue indefinitely.
ii) We must come to terms with the grief that is felt.
iii) Grief must not become inconsolable.
3. “For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy”
a) The work put in by many had been destroyed by the enemies.
i) This was the past.
ii) But the past need not be the future.
b) The hard work put in would be rewarded.
i) It would not be in vain.
ii) The captives will be able to come back to their own land in Israel.
4. “There is hope in your future, says the LORD, that your children shall come back to their own border”
a) The LORD offered “hope in (the) future”.
b) The next generation children will be able to come back to their own border.
c) The 70-year captivity period would not be lessened.
d) The next generation had many lessons to learn:
i) To work hard.
ii) To have hope.
iii) To find the LORD real.
iv) To have a stronger character through the years of hardship in Babylon.