Deserted
Day 381, Wednesday, Aug. 27
Jeremiah Chapters 44 and 45
The disobedience continues.
The Jews who fled to Egypt in spite of God’s command will suffer the same fate as the towns of Judah, God tells the people through Jeremiah: “Today they lie deserted and in ruins because of the evil they have done.”
Unlike many of the previous times when the people have promised (falsely) that they will return to obedience to God, they now have fully hardened hearts and tell Jeremiah they will continue their allegiance to foreign gods, specifically to the “Queen of Heaven.”
In doing so, they claim that their former blessings in the time of peace were from her, not from God.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Wednesday meditation

Job 27:1-12
And Job continued his discourse: “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies. I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity. I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.
“May my enemy be like the wicked, my adversary like the unjust! For what hope have the godless when they are cut off, when God takes away their life? Does God listen to their cry when distress comes upon them? Will they find delight in the Almighty? Will they call on God at all times?
“I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal. You have all seen this yourselves. Why then this meaningless talk?

Prayer focus
Lord, may we not look to false worship for our salvation.