PrayerBits
A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church
Thursday
Scripture lesson: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 A Balm in Gilead
Time to Reflect: Since originally prophetic utterances were done live in dramatic presentations it would have been easy to determine “stage directions” and when a speech was from God and being quoted by Jeremiah and when a speech was Jeremiah was speaking for himself, as he often did. I believe that this particular passage came from Jeremiah and was his lament over his people's situation. Even though he proclaimed the destruction that came upon his people, he suffered in their behalf.
Moving Through the Day: When one person condemns another it should be out of love and compassion, not hatred, jealousy, or ethno-centricity. Pray caringly for an enemy.
18 O my Comforter [a] in sorrow,
my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:
"Is the LORD not in Zion?
Is her King no longer there?"
"Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?"
20 "The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved."
21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?
Jeremiah 9
1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.
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