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Thursday... He really had a bad day.


Jeremiah 20:13 (NLT), "Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For though I am poor and needy, he rescues me from my oppressors."

Thursday... He really had a bad day.

So how are we tempted to handle our bad days?


Over in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13a the Apostle Paul writes, "If you think you are standing tall, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience."

Yes we may think we have what it takes to handle bad days but we need to be careful. We think we have what it takes to handle them but the temptations in our life are no different from what others experience.

Now Jeremiah over in the Old Testament was having a very bad day. He was arrested, whipped and put into stocks and he was a prophet of God. Iin verse 7 he writes, "O LORD, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs are me." And we too can be tempted to turn away from God on our bad days and he really had a bad day.

Yes, Jeremiah was the messenger from God to the people who had turned away from God and what Paul wrote is so very true when he said, "If you are standing tall, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience."

And that is the truth but that isn't all that Paul wrote. The whole of verse 13 says, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show a way out so that you can endure."

So, Jeremiah changed his direction. Yes, he was having a very bad day and he was definitely being tempted to turn away from God and to be discouraged just as we are on our bad days. But in Jeremiah 20:11 he says, "But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten."

Now verse 12 is important to know, "O LORD of Heaven's Armies, you test those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets." Yes God may have His hand in what we are going through but Jeremiah continues, "Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you."

And then verse 13, "Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For though I am poor and needy, he rescues me from my oppressors."

And back to what Paul wrote, "And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show a way out so that you can endure." And that is what he did to Jeremiah and what he will do to us on our bad days when we "Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For though I am poor and needy, he rescues me from my oppressors."

And it is also important to reinforce, "for I have committed my cause to you." Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning


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