SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2014
6:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Jeremiah’s
Deep Despair
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
20:14-18
Message of the
verses: In Today’s SD we will look
at the last five verses of Jeremiah chapter twenty and this will be the end of
the sixth chapter in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Jeremiah. My plans are that tomorrow we will begin
looking at the last four verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter three and then move
back into the 21st chapter of Jeremiah.
“14 A curse on the day of my birth: let there be no
blessing on the day when my mother had me. 15 A curse on the man who gave the
news to my father, saying, You have a male child; making him very glad. 16 May
that man be like the towns overturned by the Lord without mercy: let a cry for
help come to his ears in the morning, and the sound of war in the middle of the
day; 17 Because he did not put me to death before my birth took place: so my
mother’s body would have been my last resting-place, and she would have been
with child for ever. 18 Why did I come from my mother’s body to see pain and
sorrow, so that my days might be wasted with shame? (BBE)
“14 Cursed be the day when I was born; Let the day not be
blessed when my mother bore me! 15 Cursed be the man who brought the news To my
father, saying, "A baby boy has been born to you!" And made him very
happy. 16 But let that man be like the
cities Which the LORD overthrew without relenting, And let him hear an outcry
in the morning And a shout of alarm at noon; 17
Because he did not kill me before birth, So that my mother would have
been my grave, And her womb ever pregnant. 18 Why did I ever come forth from
the womb To look on trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been spent in
shame?” (NASB)
We can see depression in these verses that Jeremiah pens
and it seems that his roller coaster ride is continuing as he once again is
upset with the Lord for allowing him to be born. I suppose that it is possible that Jeremiah
may have been in the stocks when he is thinking about the things that we have
read about from verses 7-17 and then wrote them down later. As I read through these verses, and I have
read or listened to them for the last few days I seem to have a problem
understanding the phrase in verse seventeen which says “And her womb ever
pregnant.” John Gill writes the
following on this phrase: “his wish was,
that she had been always conceiving, or ever big with child of him, but never
bring forth; which was a more cruel and unnatural wish than the former
concerning the man, the carrier of the tidings of his birth; since this was
wishing a perpetual, painful, and intolerable evil to his own mother.”
When we look at the third chapter of the book of Job we
see some similar things said there that Jeremiah has said in this section, and
I am sure that there has been times in all of our lives when great trouble has
come upon us that we wished that we were never born.
I will conclude this section with the concluding words
written by Warren Wiersbe: “Why cam I
forth out of the womb?’ is an easy question to answer; because God had a
special purpose for your life and designed you to fulfill it (Jer. 1:4-5; Ps.
139:13-16). God makes no mistakes when
He calls His servants, and we should take care not to question His wisdom. All of us have had times of discouragement
when we’ve felt like quitting, but that‘s when we must look beyond our feelings
and circumstances and see the greatness and wisdom of God. As V. Raymond Edman, former president of
Wheaton College (ILL.), often said to the students, ‘It’s always too soon to
quit.’
“And it is!”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: It is always too
soon to quit is something that I need to remember along with the successful Christian
life is a series of new beginnings.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to keep me going for His honor
and glory even though at times I do feel like quitting.
Memory verse for the
week: Philippians 2:5
Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Sheep or goats” (Exodus
12:5).
Today’s Bible
question: “Which prophecy concerning
Christ was given in Zechariah 9:9 and fulfilled in Matthew 21:1-10?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/14/2014 7:36 AM
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