Devotion for the Wednesday of the Third Week in Advent

Theme for the week: Joy

Devotion for the Wednesday of the third Week in Advent (Day 18)

Reading: Jeremiah 15:15–21 (NRSV)

¹⁵ O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance do not take me away; know that on your account I suffer insult. ¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. ¹⁷ I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation. ¹⁸ Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord: If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them. ²⁰ And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord. ²¹ I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

REFLECTION:

“Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.”

What images come to your mind when you think of the Word of God? Do you think of comfort, sustenance, judgment, promise, fear, or all of the above? Would you use the word ‘joy’, as the prophet Jeremiah does, when he describes what God’s Word means to him?

God’s Word can act on us in many ways. In fact the same Biblical passage can affect us in different ways on different days in our lives. One of the blessings of God’s Word is that is that it acts on us, in the ways that we need at a particular point in time. God’s Word does sometimes challenge us, particularly when we are feeling complacent. We can also be comforted by God’s Word, at a time when perhaps we feel that there is no hope. In the psalms we certainly find words of comfort for difficult times in our lives. There are also times when God’s Word does judge or convict us, when we need to be brought face to face with things that we have done wrong. There are other times when we are in dire need of strength or uplifting. At these times, God’s Word comforts us and saves us.

Martin Luther wrote that all of the Bible consists of God’s Law and God’s Promise or Gospel. The Law convicts us and kills the sinner within us, driving us to need the Gospel. Just when we are feeling terribly convicted, we are driven to the comfort of the Gospel, which brings us back to life again. When the Gospel acts on us, we are filled with joy—the joy of the knowledge that God has forgiven us and saved us, even when we have done nothing to deserve God’s forgiveness.

In this passage, Jeremiah can depend on God’s promise that God will deliver him out of the hand of the wicked. No wonder Jeremiah can speak of the joy of God’s Word—a joy in the promise God has made to keep him from slipping into the grasp of the ruthless.

When have you experienced joy from the way that God’s Gospel or Promise has acted on your life? Has God ever pulled you out of the grasp of evil? What Bible story or quote most means joy to you?

PRAYER:

Pray that you might experience God’s Law showing you when you are going in the wrong direction. Pray that you might feel yourself being driven to need the comfort of the Gospel or God’s Promise. Pray that the joy of Gospel might permeate your life. Amen