God’s Covenant with David
Open Your Bible
Jeremiah 33:1-26, Jeremiah 34:1-22, Psalm 107:19-22, Romans 8:16-17
BY Bailey Gillespie
Kids have an uncanny knack for extending their bedtime routine way longer than it needs to last. They try delaying the inevitable by distracting you with all manner of things, like missing pajamas, a long-winded yarn about a sibling, or a third reading of Goodnight, Moon. Unless your kid is one of those miracle children who quickly settles into sleep, as soon as you turn off the lights and shut the door, you hear it: the call of distress.
Sometimes you answer right away. Sometimes you don’t (especially if you know the routine like the back of your hand). Eventually, you may have to let the child’s cries for one more story go unmet for the evening, even when your heart moves with the desire to give in because, at the end of the day, you can only read Goodnight, Moon so many times.
But God always wants us to call out to Him in our distress. We see this after the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah a second time and God says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:1,3). Our cries for help are really opportunities for connection with Him, for sharing great and incomprehensible things with us. As with Jeremiah, these “things” aren’t self-evident based on our experience, but given to us as insight and revelation that comes from a life of walking with God. They come from a life of crying out to Him and waiting for Him to answer. Early on in life, Jeremiah received a crash course in this practice, one that was necessary in order to follow in the steps God had prepared for his life.
The Book of Psalms also features this theme prominently. “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; he saved them from their distress” (Psalm 107:19). This call and response pattern repeats itself in beautiful depictions of God saving people from places of despondency caused by internal or external circumstances, and sometimes, both. Again and again, we hear God answering them when the time is right and with just the right antidote.
God urges us to cry out for help, like a child. We are His children, after all, and we don’t exist outside of His provision no matter how autonomous we may feel. Just like the familiar pages of a well-loved storybook, God longs to comfort us in our distress (Isaiah 30:18). Just as a parent answers a child in their distress because they hate the darkness, God wants to answer us in ours, to meet us in our need. His response to our affliction, and His timing, may look as different as the affliction itself, but He never leaves us in our distress.
58 thoughts on "God’s Covenant with David"
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Thanks for a great prayer Angie, it brightened my day, and I needed it!
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In a time of such chaos and confusion it is so reassuring that God listens to very fear, thought or concern. May I not try to change my circumstances but instead allow God to change my perspective through it.
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Angie, I echo that prayer, that God would shine through the clouds to brighten my day, so that I can shine that hope into someone else’s life. To have God’s Hope spread like a virus.
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My God never leaves me in my distress! I can testify that this is true. It may not be in my timing but it’s always in His perfect timing.
The beginning of Bailey’s devotion reminded me when my kids were little.
I miss those times of cuddling up with a book. My favorite book. “I love you forever.” Right now I’m thanking God we are all home together. My son had to vacate his college and came home safely on Saturday. He already miss his college and all his buddies. But this mama is thankful that he is home safe for now. -
What a sweet time with the Lord this morning. Thank you father. Your steadfast love endures forever.
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I’m so thankful that in the midst of desolation, plague, famine, the sword, and impending exile, God gives the promise of Jesus’ coming, the Righteous Branch from the line of David. On top of that, God confirms the promise saying, “Can I break my covenant with the day and night?” Does the sun stop rising or the night fail to fall? The Lord Jesus has come and He will come again! Praise God for being true to His character, faithful to His word, and jealous for the glory of His name!
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Always God’s word encourages faithfulness. In this time of fear for so many praying my faith will speak. Joining you Angie and Churchmouse in the God hunt. Praying that I will seek Him in all my conversations point to His love and grace. Remembering times when my daughter was caught in addiction that my prayers for so long seemed futile and I felt so desperate and yet I knew He was listening and would answer. He did and He does. She is no longer imprisoned by what had taken her life. Our God loves us in unfailing love and I am so so thankful. He is near, He is working, He answers our prayers. May we give Him the glory. Angie and Jen those blessed times with the babes always stir my heart to remembering my children and now grandchildren. Oh the joy God puts in the morning. He is so good.
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Thanks for sharing, Maura! ❤️ God is always good and we are always loved. Your last few sentences remind me of a verse from Psalm 143:8—Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
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I know that the She Reads Truth team could not predict our current circumstances when they chose to have Jeremiah as the Lenten study, but wow, how it relates to our daily lives right now! Streets are empty, people are losing loved ones, sickness and fear are overtaking our world, people are desperate for food and other essentials and worried about the future. But through Jeremiah’s time, God was faithful to his people. And he will be faithful to his people now. We just need to trust like Jeremiah did. Only God knows the outcome of this diseased time, but scripture tells us “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Rom. 8:28”. God, please help us to trust you, even in this time of the unknown and fear. Please use us, your people, to spread your light and love around the world in this dark time, knowing and truly believing that you are with us each step of the way. Help brighten this dreary day, that I may see you shining through the clouds, and pass that hope on to another who needs it. Amen.
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A great assignment for us all!
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Amen! Love this, Angie! Thank you and God bless you and your loved ones.
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Amen
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