The days are coming
Day 369, Friday, Aug. 15
Jeremiah Chapter 23
Prophesies against false prophets continue, but today’s reading has a couple of rays of hope.
While the exile has not occurred yet, there is already the promise that it will not last forever.
In 23:3, “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.”
Then, in an even more optimistic passage, Jeremiah has a Messianic prophecy in 23:5. “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.’”

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Friday meditation

Job 21:17-26
“Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger? How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale? It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’ Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it! Let their own eyes see their destruction; let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty. For what do they care about the families they leave behind when their allotted months come to an end?
“Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest? One person dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease, well nourished in body, bones rich with marrow. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good. Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.

Prayer focus
Our Lord and King, may we rest in our faith in you.