Blackberries

Daily Reading: Jeremiah 12

Scripture Focus: If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12.5)

Devotional Thought: When I was dating my wife, I would visit her and her family in West Virginia.  If one of those visits came during blackberry picking season, I would invariably get invited to accompany Nick, my future father-in-law, on a berry-picking excursion "up the tight holler."  For some reason - aside from the fact that I loved Pauline's homemade blackberry pies! - I thought it would be a good idea to go with Nick.  I was smug setting out, but Nick always seemed a bit smug when we came back...  I think he delighted in seeing me get tangled up in the blackberry thickets!  When I complained, Ken, my brother-in-law, told me that once he had to take his shirt off so that they could carry berries in it.  He didn't think that was fair!

When Jeremiah complained to the Lord that life was unfair, God told him to do a reality check.  He was racing with men on foot and couldn't beat them.  He was feeling comfortable at home but there were some briars ahead.  God was telling Jeremiah, "If you think life isn't fair now, just wait!"  Jeremiah did find out later when he was arrested and beaten just for trying to help his fellow countrymen.

How many times have you felt that life was unfair?  Probably more times than you care to admit.  And, life is unfair.  Sometimes cheaters win; sometimes liars are believed; sometimes haters inflict pain.  The thickets of the Jordan surround us.

Though life is sometimes unfair, God is always fair:  "God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them" (Hebrews 6.10).

Prayer: Lord, forgive me when I complain that life is unfair.  Help me to remember that you left all the glories of heaven and came to suffer on this earth so that I might be forgiven of my sins.  I thank you, Lord, that you are always just!  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 107.10-16

10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons,

11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High.

12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help.

13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.

15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.