Joy
Day 387, Tuesday, Sept. 2
Jeremiah 51:24-64
Babylon was once a great empire, but like all great empires, it ultimately faded into obscurity. Rather than being mourned, though, its fate was a source of joy.
In verse 48 we read, “‘Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her,’ declares the Lord.”
There can be no sadder end for a nation, or for a person, than for its death to be a cause for joy and celebration.
That was Babylon’s fate, though.
It’s a reminder of the need for humility. When we are in a position of strength we need to remember we will not always be strong and successful. Someday we too will be in a position of weakness and do not want our misfortune to be, like Babylon’s, a source of joy to others.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Tuesday meditation

Job 30:1-15
“But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them? Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush. They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth. A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.
“And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence. On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me. They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. ‘No one can help him,’ they say. They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in. Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.

Prayer focus
Lord, let us see the joy of knowing our enemies are defeated and your people are at peace.