DEVOTION: This Is One Key Sign Of God’s Discipline By Pastor Shadrack Ruto
Have you ever wondered whether you are undergoing God’s discipline in your life? Is it possible that this is the most puzzling equation in your life today? In today’s passage, we find one of the most important clues. This is found hidden in the pronunciation of the punishment of the Babylonians. From Jeremiah 46-51, Jeremiah is giving prophecies against Egypt, the Philistines, Moab, Ammon, and then Babylon. It is in this pronunciation of the punishment of Babylon that God gives us a clue on what is a key sign of His discipline in the lives of His children. This is how the prophet Jeremiah reports God’s reaction to what Israel and Judah had to go through in Babylon.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go. Jeremiah 50:33
Then He gives hope for His people.
Yet their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause Jeremiah 50:34a
Why would God defend their cause? The prophet Jeremiah continues:
So that he may bring rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon. Jeremiah 50:34b
During the duration of the discipline, the land of Judah and Israel had no rest. But when the tables are turned around, Babylon will undergo the discipline of God; then rest will replace the unrest that had plagued the land of Judah and Israel. But God will send unrest to Babylon.
APPLICATION:
- When God removes His protection in the land or your life, there will be unusual unrest that can only be removed when God’s presence is restored.
- Since the fall of Adam and Eve (mankind), any time man is away from the presence of God he or she is vulnerable to serious attacks from the enemy.
- Since the fall of Adam and Eve, mankind has never found a complete rest. Even for believers, we still have to deal with all kinds of sufferings and trials.
- In this respect. God’s discipline takes a form of withdrawal where God withdraws his presence. When that happens, “hell breaks loose” in the land or the life or lives of people.
- This rest remains elusive to mankind. The writer of Hebrews writes it this way:
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:8-11
- Moses understood this principle when he was leading the children of Israel. Read the following story in Numbers 14. Can you see the role of God’s presence?
When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!” But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.” Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah. Numbers 14:39-45
- If you are not experiencing rest in your life, then maybe you are undergoing God’s discipline.
- Is there anything that keeps haunting you in life? Have you struggled over the years to achieve your dreams?
- It might not necessarily be that you are sinning or living in sin. Maybe you have never consulted the Lord on your endeavors. May be God has not designed for you to do what you think is the dream of your life. Then the struggle is probably God’s signal that you should turn around.
- But if you are insisting in living in sin, then you must repent and change your ways in order to experience rest that can only come from God.
- What is your understanding of unrest? How have you experienced unrest in your life? Have you regained rest? How did that come about?
Yet their Redeemer is strong;
The Lord Almighty is his name.
He will vigorously defend their cause
So that he may bring rest to their land,
But unrest to those who live in Babylon.
Jeremiah 50:34
This Is One Key Sign Of God’s Discipline!
Read: Jeremiah 47:1-50:34
Marked: 50:34
Pastor Shadrack Ruto-pastorrutodevotions@gmail.com
DEVOTION: This Is One Key Sign Of God’s Discipline By Pastor Shadrack Ruto
