Mercy Amid Judgment

You seem awfully excited for Coffee and Devotions this morning. Good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're at Joshua chapter 15. Deborah's very excited because she guesstimated where we would be at and was right on. We're at Jeremiah, not Joshua, Jeremiah chapter 15, verses 10 through 18. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's word.
I knew it. I knew it. You want to pray for us this morning? Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for coffee and devotions. And please let the people who watch this to continue watching it throughout the whole video. And let us learn some new stuff today. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Everybody just learned for the first time there's something called YouTube analytics. And so I've never been so bold as to pray something like that.
Maybe hopefully God will teach us something too. All right, ready? Teach us some stuff. All right, woe is me, my mother, that you have born me. A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I have neither lent for interest nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me. What's he saying there? What's that about? He's saying things ain't going right. Yeah. Yeah, he's done nothing wrong and yet people aren't good with him. You want to read the next part? The Lord said, surely it will be well with your remnant.
Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in the time of adversity and in the time of affliction. Can anyone break iron, the northern iron and the bronze? Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder without price because of all your sins throughout your territories. And I will make you cross over with your enemies into a land which you do not know. For a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.
Okay, so The first part of verse 11 is almost like a comfort isn't it mm-hmm, but then versus 12 through 14. How's it go? Like because of your sins, I'm gonna punish you but I thought Jeremiah was up here being one who had not done those things and I wonder if the Lord's talking to his enemies. I think he's talking to the people of Judah as a whole here. But it's interesting, I even wrote down in my Bible on the side, will Jeremiah go with the exiles too? Actually, they would. They would force him to go down to Egypt. Right. Okay, well let's keep going.
O Lord, you know Remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my precursors, or persecutors. In your enduring patience do not take me away. Know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke. Your words were found, and I ate them. And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I called by your name, O Lord God of hosts.
I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I rejoice. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wounds incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you surely be to me like an unreliable stream, as waters that fail?" Really happy part, huh?
What's Jeremiah saying there? He's saying that he's, it kind of seems like he's defending himself. Or pleading his cause with the Lord. Yeah, right, the Lord is the one he's saying he's going to take all of them into exile and it seems like Jeremiah is going to have to go with him. He's almost asking for God to show mercy to him.
Well, what do you think that whole section is about now that we've read all of it? I think Jeremiah is very unhappy right now. Okay, so yeah, so it's a lament. Right, so he's crying out to God. Even though God shows him some care, surely it will be well with your remnant. Surely it will cause the enemy to intercede with you in the time of adversity and the time of affliction. There's going to be some relief for Jeremiah, it seems. But he's also going to go to Egypt with the exiles. Yeah, right, so it's this challenge, isn't it? There's both judgment and yet there's mercy. Does God seem to tell Jeremiah, like, you dummy fool, you shouldn't be lamenting and praying about this type of stuff? Nope. No, right? There's a time to lament. God knows that this is going to be hard for Jeremiah.
So your mom says, okay, I'm really busy. The baby's crying. Just tell me in like one sentence what you learned. What was that passage about? There can be mercy and judgment at the same time. Okay, well let's talk about the best verse. What is the best verse to summarize this section?
15. You like 15? So that's part of his almost like self-defense? Yeah. Okay, yeah, that'd be fine. I think maybe like the lament part I think is in verses 10 and 18 together. I think that's right, but I think verse 18 specifically, right?
Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable which refuses to be healed? Now notice, will you, he's talking to God here, will you surely be to me like an unreliable stream as waters that fail? He's asking God is he going to be like a stream that is there sometimes and drives up at other times. What do you think the Lord's answer to that would be? No. No. Would God ever leave him or forsake him? No. Would God allow him to be taken into exile, but is God confined to the borders of Canaan? No. No, right? When they left and went into exile, was God still with them?
Yeah. The Lord is near to us. And even so much more now, Jesus tells us, right? When he told his disciples that he was going to go to his father and it was better for him to go. Why? What did he say? So Jesus told his disciples that he was going to go to be with his father and it was better for him to go than to stay because he was going to send someone after him. Do you know who that would be that he would send after him? No. He was a helper.
The Holy Spirit. Who would comfort them, and care for them, and build them up, and help them remember everything that Jesus had taught them. And so, that same Holy Spirit dwells in us now. And God is not like a stream that sometimes is there and sometimes isn't. He's not like a God whose mercy is there and then dries up and goes away. He's here with us forever. He's always with us, even in the darkest and hardest of times. And we can trust in Him. Cool? Yup. Anything you want to add for how this applies to you? Not really. Not really? Okay. Ready to pray?
God, we thank you so much for sending us your Son, Jesus Christ, who took all of our sins for us, who He Himself was exiled out of the city and killed for our sins. And yet, Lord, He went up to you And you have sent your Holy Spirit into our hearts now that cries out, Abba, Father.
And you comfort us. You never leave us. But you tell us even now we can come into your throne room and we can pray to you. We can have a peace that surpasses all understanding. So God, we pray that even in the hard times of life, even when there's lamenting and crying and there's weakness and sadness and depression, when there's contrition for sin and difficulty in life. Lord, we thank you that we can still be with you. and that you give us the refreshing streams of your grace to our souls.
Lord, please lead us beside the still waters and the green pastures. We trust you, our Good Shepherd, in Jesus' name. Amen. May God bless you. May you be refreshed by the grace of Jesus Christ. And may the Holy Spirit encourage you this morning. We'll see you later. Bye. Bye.