Acknowledgment of Pain of Betrayal


For the season of Lent I'll be sharing devotions from Grace Lutheran's devotional book: "Forgiven." 

While these devotions are not my words and may not represent my own faith or theological understanding, they are valuable personal faith perspectives of 40 of Grace's members and I am so grateful for their generosity in sharing them.

Part Three: Telling the Story & Naming the Hurt

Jeremiah 8:18-22 (acknowledgment of pain of betrayal)
My joy is gone, grief is upon me,
    my heart is sick.
Hark, the cry of my poor people
    from far and wide in the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    Is her King not in her?”
(“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
    with their foreign idols?”)
“The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
    and we are not saved.”
For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
    I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people
    not been restored?

 Jeremiah’s grief was beyond healing. He had pain in his heart for the crying, starving children, mothers, and fathers. God didn’t leave you. God is always with all.

 Prayer:
Our Lord in heaven,
Please pray for underpriveleged and all the world. Pray for food, clothes, and living quarters. Collect in the churches and pray for help. The Lord is always with us.

Amen
~ Joyce

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