Author: Dave M Price

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Turning Back

Daily Reading

Lamentations 3:37-5:22

Daily Thought

God used Babylon as his hammer of judgment against Israel, but that does not mean the mallet was swung by God’s hand. God lifted his hand of protection and Babylon was eager and willing to crush Judah. Jeremiah describes this as “greater than the punishment of Sodom” (Lamentations 4:6). Sodom saw the fist of God, “then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven” (Genesis 19:24). Judah saw God’s back. God turned away from Judah, and that is worse. It was the back of God Jesus saw when, carrying the sins of the world on the cross, he cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). There is no greater hell.

God destroyed Sodom. Judah, he planned to save, and salvation requires a deeper pain. Judah must repent. To repent means to change direction, and change is resisted until the pain of staying the same is worse than the pain of turning around. Parents have tools of discipline: spanking, grounding, lectures (I preferred a spanking to my dad’s lectures, quicker and less painful). But, of last resort, they let go. The father gave the prodigal son his inheritance and turned away. He left his son to himself.

Judah cried out, “Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?” (Lamentations 5:20). They were afraid God’s back meant he no longer cared. They were wrong, he cared more, enough to let his child go, to place Judah on the painful path toward repentance.

“I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’
You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
you have redeemed my life” (Lamentations 3:55-58). 

Daily Prayer

Mighty God, I look to You each morning and anticipate the day, and each evening I give thanks. You are always there, always sovereign, always involved, always in love. It took me awhile to learn this; I thought my way better, and You let me wander, but You were always there to hear my call. Thank You for walking slow enough for me to catch up.

I love being part of Your good news, God. Thank You for salvation, for hearing my cry, for giving me life and life’s purpose. I still try to grab the controls. Don’t let me! Your way is much better.

Amen

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The Desert of Despair

Daily Reading

Lamentations 1:1-3:36

Daily Thought

“And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything” (Luke 15:16). The younger son in Jesus’s story of the prodigal has entered the depth of despair, when the world has nothing left to offer. He had taken his father’s inheritance and boasted, “I will do it my way.” There is an irony that the most requested song at funerals is Frank Sinatra’s, “My Way.” It is still a funeral, the world has nothing left to offer. But this was not his funeral, and the younger son had time yet to remember. “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” (Luke 15:17). 

This is Jeremiah’s lamentation, “my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. My endurance has perished” (Lamentations 3:17-18). This is the plight of Israel, the opportunity to turn their whining and wailing from “Why should this happen to me” to “Why should not this happen to me?”

“The Lord is in the right,
for I have rebelled against his word.” ~Lamentations 1:18

And now there is hope.

Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope. ~Lamentations 3:19-21

Hope is the flower that blooms in the desert of despair. The younger son turned his back to the world and returned to his father, and “the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:22-24).

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are good, and You are good to me, more than I deserve. But you are also fair and just. When I neglect Your Word, when I stray from Your leading, I get lost and I find trouble. I can’t blame You for that; it is the consequence of my desires. 

What amazes me is when You come searching for me when I’m the one who got myself lost. You lead me back to Your path, and welcome me back as if I had never strayed. I know what I deserve, and it’s not Your love and grace. Thank You for not giving me what I deserve, and giving me what I don’t. Your mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.

Amen

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Baseball Cards

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 51-52

Daily Thought

Boys collect baseball cards, but when we were boys, we didn’t know any better. We liked the clicking sound baseball cards made when you clothespinned them to the spokes on your bicycle. It didn’t matter what card; Mickey Mantle made the same noise as Yogi Berra. We did not know that a 1914 Babe Ruth would sell for $717,000, or a 1952 Mickey Mantle for $2,880,000, or a 1909 Honus Wagner for $3,120,000. 

“Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
They are worthless, a work of delusion.” ~Jeremiah 51:17-18

Prophets are seldom subtle. There is one God, proclaims Jeremiah, and “it is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (Jeremiah 51:15). It is the fool who bows before objects of wood and stone, cardboard and clay, who values things more than the Creator of everything. 

We pinned baseball cards to our wheels because we did not know people would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 2”x3” piece of cardboard. And we were the foolish ones?

Daily Prayer

Most Wonderful God, I worship You. The galaxies, the stars, the moon and sun, planet earth, oceans, animals, and me. You created it all, simply by Your Word. You spoke and it was, and it was good.

There are times, God, when I value things too much, when creation steals more of my attention than the Creator. Lord, may I never lose sight of You, Your glory, Your wisdom. May I always be foolish enough to disdain the wisdom and the wealth of this world, and find my full value in You.

Amen

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God Is God

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 49-50

Daily Thought

God is God. That seems obvious, yet humankind continually acts as if it has a say in the matter. Edom believed her wisdom sufficient, Damascus its fame, and the possessions of Keder and Hazor gave them a false security. These nations built idols reflecting their passions and desires, trusting in things they hold rather than the One who holds them, rejecting the God who can and will determine their future. Each stood against God and, like Ammon, “trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’” (Jeremiah 49:4). God will answer. Nation upon nation swaggered against the might of God and met his sword. At the end, even great Babylon fell, “for it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols” (Jeremiah 50:38).

God’s prophets tell of his judgment against the nations, “‘For I have sworn by myself,’ declares the Lord, ‘that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes’” (Jeremiah 49:13). If we cringe at its fierceness, it has done its job. It is not God’s duty to accommodate our sensitivities, as if God should “play nice.” God’s justice reflects the truth of “in the beginning, God created” (Genesis 1:1) and “behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). We have made it bad, then wonder at God when he picks up his sword. He is making it good again.

Daily Prayer

My heavenly Father, You deal with nations that, I admit, act the way I act. When things go well, I neglect You; when poorly, I complain. Sometimes, God, I am tempted to trust in things I can hold. I should rather trust in the One who holds me. Too often, You are the last to whom I turn. If You had not made Yourself known to me, I would have ignored You. Thank You for Your love and grace, which compels.  me to Your holiness, the more because I do not deserve it.

You are God, that is the most wise thing I can say. Everything else comes after that. May my devotion reflect that truth and be displayed in everything I do.

Amen

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Chapters of Wrath

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 46-48

Daily Thought

God utilized the enemies of Israel to discipline his children, but it does not make virtuous the enemies’ violence. These nations were all too willing to strike God’s chosen, and lest they glory in their victories, the Lord executes the promise of retribution he gave to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3). God’s sword now turns toward justice against the Egyptians and the Philistines, the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam, and Babylon.

These nations assaulted Israel and ought fear the looming wrath of God and run. And run they will, but “he who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare (Jeremiah 48:44). Out of the frying pan, into the fire, so to speak, and God’s judgment is sure. There will be no place to run, hide, or escape. 

God’s terror of righteousness against those opposed to righteousness creates an awful clamor, and Jeremiah cries, “Ah, sword of the Lord! How long till you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard; rest and be still!” (Jeremiah 47:6). The Bible is a book of love, yet there are chapters of wrath, and this must be. A holy love demands a holy hatred of evil. “How can it be quiet when the Lord has given it a charge?” (Jeremiah 47:7), responds the Almighty. These nations desired neither grace nor God, and thus, the sword.

Daily Prayer

Righteous God of Justice, You are holy. Thank You for salvation, because I deserve Your wrath. My righteousness does not measure up–it is as filthy rags. And my unrighteousness, well, I’m good at that. You have covered my sin by the blood of Your Son who took my sins and, thus, bore Your wrath. There is, therefore, now no condemnation because Your justice is true and satisfied and the righteousness of Your Son is now mine. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Corinthians 5:21). Thank You.

Amen

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God Is Always Late

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 42-45

Daily Thought

The nation of Judah had been carried off in captivity to Babylon with only a small remnant left behind in the land of Israel. The prophet Jeremiah remained with the remnant. Fearful that Babylon would return against them, the remnant of Judah favored seeking refuge in Egypt, but requested Jeremiah first ask God if they should go. They vowed before the prophet, “Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God” (Jeremiah 42:6).

God responded, instructing them to remain in the land, “Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand” (Jeremiah 42:11). A short time later, “they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord” (Jeremiah 43:7). The people vowed to obey, then rebelled when God answered. What happened?

The answer is found between the request and the rebellion, “at the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 42:7). God is always late (it seems), because “‘my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8)). In our prayers, we seek answers. In our prayers, God seeks faith. 

The silence tested their faith. God took ten days to answer, which gave the people ten days to ponder whom they feared, and they feared the Babylonians they could see more than they feared the God they could not, so they disobeyed the word of God. Time is a test of faith. They should have waited.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” ~Hebrews 11:1

Daily Prayer

Almighty God, You are forever faithful and true. I place my trust in You because You are the Rock, the Solid Foundation on which to build my life.

You are my God and I will wait for You and Your Word, because it is worth the wait. You are my God. I will place my faith in the One who is always faithful.

Amen

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The Simple Certainty

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 38-41

Daily Thought

Jeremiah’s prophetic warning is summarized in one proclamation: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day’” (Jeremiah 39:16). When the day arrives and Judah at long last falls to Babylon, it is recorded in a perfunctory cadence, “In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city” (Jeremiah 39:1-2). There is no joy in judgment, but a simple certainty that God is true to his word.

The same applies not only in judgment, but salvation as well. “But I will deliver you on that day” (Jeremiah 39:17), declares the Lord to Jeremiah, short and sweet, and there is found the joy, a simple certainty that God is true to his word.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up. ~1Thessalonians 5:9-11

Daily Prayer

My God, thank You so much for salvation, saving me from the judgment I deserve. The future is certain, but which certain is up to me and Who I follow. I choose You.

May my life lead others to follow, as well. God, Your Word is true, and it is good.

Amen

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Rebellion

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 35-37

Daily Thought

The sin common to all is unbelief. It may be a lack of faith in God’s good intent, fooling myself that I know better what will satisfy my desire; or it is a disbelief in the certainty and finality of God’s judgment, brushing aside “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), as Eve did when she trusted the serpent above God. “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). Yes you will. 

This common sin is a terrible sin, yet there is worse, and that is a sin of rebellion. Rebellion is not unbelief; rather it believes and rejects. Jehoiakim “was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2Kings 23:36-37). His reign was the end of the road for Judah, yet God was still extending grace. The Lord instructed Jeremiah, “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin” (Jeremiah 36:2-3). One last chance.

The scroll was read to the people of Judah, and they responded rightly, with fear and fasting, until the scroll came to the king. As the scroll was read to the king, three or four columns at a time, “the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire” (Jeremiah 36:23).

The sin rooted in rebellion is Satan’s sin, a defiance that says, “I believe God, and his way is true, even good, but I prefer my way because I prefer me.”

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, Your Word is life itself. It lights the path in front of me and leads me in the way everlasting. It is good, and it is good for me. I will read it and hear it, listen to it and follow it. I will put it in my heart and meditate on it.

There are other words, other advisers, calling out to me, distracting me from Your Word and Your way. What they offer sounds fun and free, worldly and wonderful. May I choose what is heavenly and good, what comes from faith and gives hope. May I choose Your joy and Your love. May I choose You.

Amen

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Trust and Treasure Go Together

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 32-34

Daily Thought

Jeremiah spoke a terrible and terrifying truth, “Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it” (Jeremiah 32:28-29). Then he spoke of a hope and a future, “Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Jeremiah 32:37-38). It was a package deal. As sure as there was something terrible about to happen, (Jeremiah 32:2, “the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem” at that very moment”), there was a certain hope to come.

So sure was Jeremiah of the truth of his word that he put his money where his mouth was, he put his treasure into the land of Israel, “I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales” (Jeremiah 32:9-10). He would have a place to build when he returned.

There is a coming judgment of my deeds, and there is good news of God’s Kingdom through the grace of Jesus Christ. How sure I am of God is revealed by where I put my treasure.

Daily Prayer

My God, Creator of all, Creator of me, You and You alone are worthy of my worship and devotion. Everything I see is awesome. I know I use that word a lot, but it truly applies to Your handiwork. I am awe-struck at the majesty, the intricacy, the wisdom, the beauty.

I have concerns, needs, issues, problems in my life. We all do. No wonder we pray to You. You have created a grand universe, and paid attention to the tiniest details. I can trust you with anything, big or small. How I spend my money and my time reveals my trust in You. I trust You with me, all of me, all that I have.

Amen

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Sunrise, Sunset

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 30-31

Daily Thought

Thus says the Lord,
who gives the sun for light by day
and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name. ~Jeremiah 31:35 

It says sunrise will occur at 6:32am, so I show up at 6:30 and wait. Five minutes pass, I check my watch, and still no sun. Here is what I know: either my watch is wrong or the charts were wrong, or maybe I am facing west. The sun is not wrong. It shows up exactly on schedule every morning. You can bet your life on it; in fact, God says you should: 

“If this fixed order departs
from before me,” declares the Lord,
“then shall the offspring of Israel cease
from being a nation before me forever.” ~Jeremiah 31:36

Judah sinned and was taken captive by God’s enemies. Would God remain faithful to them, they wondered, even though they were not faithful to him? Jeremiah assures them God fastens his promises to the universe; more sure is his Word than the sun and the moon and the stars. “This is the day that the Lord has made,” proclaims the Psalms. Every sunrise is a promise kept, a daily reminder that God is true.  “Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

Daily Prayer

My God, You are true and right and good. By Your breath this world came into existence, and Your Son holds it together. “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). You are faithful and true. When You declare what will happen, it will happen.

I place my trust in You, O God, because there is no foundation more sure. So much is outside of my control, I would feel helpless and hopeless, but I know that You, my God, are sovereign. You have declared the end from the beginning, so that I may always live in the wonderful hope of things to come.

Amen