DCLM Daily Manna 7 June 2022 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — God-Appointed Afflictions
TOPIC: God-Appointed Afflictions (DCLM Daily Manna 7 June 2022)
TEXT: Lamentations 4:13-22 (KJV)
13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.
16 The anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.
17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.
KEY VERSE: “Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness” (Lamentations 4:19).
MESSAGE:
There is a scriptural injunction which says that affliction shall not rise up the second time (Nahum 1:9). This was the prayer and heart-cry of Prophet Nahum for the people of Israel, when he saw the desolation his nation had suffered at the hand of the Assyrians. This prophet also dropped a bombshell that God “will not at all acquit the wicked” (Nahum 1:3).
Our passage reveals the persisting wickedness carried out by the priests and prophets who were supposed to serve God and His people. Mindless atrocities and shedding of innocent blood were common acts observed among the secular and religious leaders of the day. These men did not only take God and His laws for granted, they also scorned at everything holy and divine.
When men forget God and the truth, they certainly incur His wrath. It is understandably the reason God had to appoint strong and wicked persecutors who were “swifter than the eagles of the heaven” to pursue and carry away into exile, the Israelites who had become sinners in Zion.
God’s righteous standards are unchanging. He reserves mercy for the godly while the wicked continues to experience disappointments, defeat and death, except they repent. There are divinely appointed afflictions for the recalcitrant sinners. Take good heed to God’s word and commandments that you fall not into the wrath of the living God.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
The path of the wicked is always hard.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
1 Chronicles 25-29
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
