IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Return to the Lord

Date: Jun. 14, 2024

Passage

Lamentations 3:40-66

40   Let us test and examine our ways,
    and return to the LORD!
41   Let us lift up our hearts and hands
    to God in heaven:
42   “We have transgressed and rebelled,
    and you have not forgiven.
43   “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
    killing without pity;
44   you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
    so that no prayer can pass through.
45   You have made us scum and garbage
    among the peoples.
46   “All our enemies
    open their mouths against us;
47   panic and pitfall have come upon us,
    devastation and destruction;
48   my eyes flow with rivers of tears
    because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49   “My eyes will flow without ceasing,
    without respite,
50   until the LORD from heaven
    looks down and sees;
51   my eyes cause me grief
    at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52   “I have been hunted like a bird
    by those who were my enemies without cause;
53   they flung me alive into the pit
    and cast stones on me;
54   water closed over my head;
    I said, ‘I am lost.’
55   “I called on your name, O LORD,
    from the depths of the pit;
56   you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
    your ear to my cry for help!’
57   You came near when I called on you;
    you said, ‘Do not fear!’
58   “You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
    you have redeemed my life.
59   You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD;
    judge my cause.
60   You have seen all their vengeance,
    all their plots against me.
61   “You have heard their taunts, O LORD,
    all their plots against me.
62   The lips and thoughts of my assailants
    are against me all the day long.
63   Behold their sitting and their rising;
    I am the object of their taunts.
64   “You will repay them, O LORD,
    according to the work of their hands.
65   You will give them dullness of heart;
    your curse will be on them.
66   You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
    from under your heavens, O LORD.”

Daily Bread

Key Verse: Lamentations 3:40

Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the LORD!

When we recognize our sin and repent of it, and return to the Lord, he will forgive us. That doesn’t mean he will not judge us. That is what the author discovered. He urges his listeners to lift up their hands to God and say, “We have sinned and rebelled, but you have not forgiven.” Judah had to go through a period of judgment because of their sin. The Lord covered himself in wrath and took no pity on them. Many were slain. They suffered ruin and destruction. But the author urges his people to turn to God and confess their sin and rebellion. The author felt like a hunted bird. Would God relent?

When all seemed at its worst, the author called on God again. Then the Lord heard his plea. The Lord came near and said to him, “Do not fear.” The Lord took up his case and redeemed him from his sin. His confidence in the Lord was restored, even to the point where he could ask the Lord to pay back their enemies, to pursue them and destroy them. The Lord is a just judge. He redeems the repentant and punishes the wicked.

Prayer: Father, you are the righteous judge. We have sinned against you. But you redeem those who repent. Help us examine our ways and return to you.

One Word: Examine our ways and return to the Lord!

Daily Bread

The Priests’ Share

Leviticus 7:22-38

Key Verse: 7:36

The LORD commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel, from the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generations.”

Read More

Intro Daily