Daily Devotion

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.

A Wall of Bronze

Jeremiah, get ready! Go and tell the people what I command you to say.
Don't be frightened by them, or I will make you terrified while they watch.
My power will make you strong like a fortress or a column of iron or a wall of bronze.
You will oppose all of Judah, including its kings and leaders, its priests and people.
They will fight back, but they won't win.
I, the LORD, give my word—I won't let them harm you.
The LORD told me to go to Jerusalem and tell everyone that he had said:
When you were my young bride, you loved me and followed me through the barren desert.
You belonged to me alone, like the first part of the harvest, and I severely punished those who mistreated you. - Jeremiah 1:17-2:3 CEV

God tells you how it is, not how you wish it were. God never promised Jeremiah that he wouldn't have problems. He didn't tell him his job would be easy or that anyone's mind would be changed by what he said. Instead, God told Jeremiah that those he confronted would fight back. But he also told him that they wouldn't win, and that they wouldn't harm him.

But God's definition of harm might have been a tad different from Jeremiah's definition. Jeremiah spent time in a miry pit, suffered repeated arrests, and endured blistering verbal attacks. Jeremiah did not have a nice house; nor did he make a lot of money. He didn't even get respect. But though his life was endangered, and though there were those who threatened to kill him, Jeremiah survived. His enemies didn't kill him or silence him. For God, harm did not mean trouble. For God, harm meant being rendered ineffective.

Jeremiah did exactly what God asked him to do every time. Despite his suffering, and despite the fact that no one believed his message or acted upon it, Jeremiah was successful. He had no way of knowing that his words would be preserved and studied by millions for more than twenty-five centuries. He did not change the minds of the people he first confronted, but his words have lived on to change people's minds. Live your life the way God wants you to, and you'll never suffer regret. You will ultimately realize true success.