Jeremiah 51-52

In Jeremiah 51-52, we read more about the Lord's future plans to destroy Babylon, and learn more about the details of Judah and Jerusalem's captivity.  Babylon's imperial guard, Nebuchadnezzar (don't try to say that 5x fast), carried 4,600 Jewish people into exile.  The Lord's temple is destroyed, homes are burned to the ground, and all the walls are broken down.  Most horrifying, so many lives are lost.

And moment to moment, devastation is the reality in the world for so many people.

And in the middle of it all, we find these words about our God,

He made the earth by his power;

  he founded the world by his wisdom

  and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

Jeremiah 51:15

So through our reading today, I kept wrapping my brain around this truth-
God is still in charge here, people.  And that's a really good thing, something for which we can all be thankful.  

Our God, through all of our circumstances and choices, is a good God who so loves us.  Our job is to remember what God did for us.  We have to remember just how much God loves us...

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:16

God wants us to learn to rely on His love for us above and beyond anything else in this world.  

A prayer for today-

Dear God,

Thank You for making us and the places we live by Your power.  Thank You for loving us so much that You have blessed our lives with Jesus each and every day.  

Forgive me for all the ways I forget to rely on Your love above and beyond everything else in this world.

Help me to know Your love, even in the craziness of this world.  Help me to appreciate the glimpses of Your presence and power that are in front of me- ____________________________________, all perfect gifts from above.

I pray for all those who are devastated today.  Fill them, Lord, with Your love and wrap them in Your hope.

I am in awe of You, my Lord and Savior.

In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen

In Christ's love,

*This post is part of A Mind-Maker-Upper's Everyday Reading Project.  Click here to read more.