As the prophet Jeremiah stood amidst the smoldering ruins of his beloved city, he was overcome with grief and hopelessness. What made it even more painful is that he knew this devastation could have been avoided if the nation had only listened to God. But at his lowest point of despair, he remembered God’s faithfulness, and calling this to mind renewed his faltering hope. When your world seems to be crumbling around you, and you feel overwhelmed by the struggles and pain of life, shift your focus back to God’s goodness, trusting that He is ruling over it all and that your hope should rest in Him alone.
The Destructive Consequences of Our Sin
One little bug can’t harm a whole crop, but a swarm of locusts can devour and destroy an entire countryside in just minutes! We may not think that our “little” sins will ever harm anyone else, but the ripple effects might actually be felt for generations to come. The book of Joel describes a time when God’s people and their land suffered complete devastation as a result of their sin, and there was only one way to fix it. God called them to be genuinely brokenhearted, to repent of their sin, and to return to Him. If they did this, He promised to restore what they had lost and pour out His blessings upon them once again. If you are away from God right now and suffering the consequences of your sin, you don’t have to stay there! Return to Him today and receive the forgiveness and blessing He longs to give you.
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