Good Intentions

Daily Reading: Jeremiah 42

Scripture Focus: Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the Lord your God for us, for all this remnant—because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do. (Jeremiah 42.2-3)

Devotional Thought: I've seen it many, many times in court.  The defendant addresses the judge with resolve and desperation.  "I'll do better, your honor.  I swear to you!  Just give me a chance."  The intention is there, and in many instances the will to follow-through is there as well.

Johanan, the default leader of Jerusalem, stood before Jeremiah, with desperation and resolve.  Johanan's good intentions were shown in how he made his request...

·       A plea for mercy.  Just as those defendants I witnessed in court, Johanan and the inhabitants of Jerusalem knew that they were in deep trouble.  They were in no position to make demands.  When we come before God, the first thing we need to recognize is our need for mercy.

·       A request for prayer.  They didn't ask Jeremiah for instructions on how to defeat the invading army.  They asked him to do what they knew he could and should do: Pray.  Too often, we try to solve our own problems while leaving God out of the solution.  That approach only serves to exacerbate the problems.

·       A humble assessment.  "We are left with but a few."  With neither the numbers nor the will to fight, their spirits were broken.  But, they were in just the place they needed to be to receive God's help.  "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4.6).

·       A desire for divine guidance.  Their prayer echoed the prayer of King Jehoshaphat who had faced a similar threat, three hundred years prior:  "Lord, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you" (2 Chronicles 20.12).

Are you in a desperate situation?  Try what Johanan did.  Throw yourself on the mercy of God.

Prayer: Lord, I need you right now in this very situation that I am facing.  I make my plea for mercy, recognizing that you owe me nothing.  I pray that in my weakness your strength would be made perfect.  Guide me, O Lord, in the way I should go.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 121.5-8

5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.