Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 96

"Your sins have withheld good from you"

Text: Jeremiah 5:25

NO REVERENCE OF GOD

Reverence involves the heart. It should be the most natural thing to feel. The Psalmist Ethan wrote correctly when he said that “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him” (Psalm 89:7). Unfortunately, this due regard of the Lord was absent in Judah.

“They do not say in their heart,
‘Let us now fear the LORD our God,
Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season.
He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
Your iniquities have turned these things away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.”
Jeremiah 5:24-25

1. “They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God'”

a) The people in Judah do not have God in their heart much.
b) Their hearts were not filled with thoughts about God.
c) They do not encourage each other to fear the Lord their God.
d) This should have been a natural spiritual thing to do.

2. “Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”

a) The LORD was the One who had blessed the nation.
i) Giving needed rain.
ii) The former rain (The early rain).
iii) The latter rain (just before harvest).
iv) The rain must come in its season or there would be crop failure.
b) The Lord had always planned to bless His people.
i) He was the One who had “reserved” these blessings.
ii) The Seasons were well within God’s control.

3. “Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.”

a) God can also withhold good from the people.
b) Why would God withhold His blessings?
i) Because of the iniquities of His people.
ii) Because of their sins which they commit wilfully.
c) God reserves the right.
i) To give His blessings
ii) Or to withhold them

It costs nothing to cultivate reverence for the Lord in the heart! It is the right and natural thing to have and to cultivate this fear of the Lord! May there always be the fear of the Lord in our hearts!