OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL For Monday 31 March 2014 "SHEPHERD OR WOLF?" BY PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
Memory Verse: 1 Peter 5:2
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
Read: Lamentations 4:1-5
1 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
Message
Our Bible reading for today is a grim lamentation of Prophet Jeremiah. It concerns both the spiritual and physical state of affairs of the people of God of his time. This state of affairs sadly reflects the current state of affairs of God’s people in our time. The Bible says that all these were written as examples for those upon whom the ends of the world are come (1 Corinthians 10:11). This state of affairs is therefore indicative of the times we live in; these are the end-times. Let us learn one or two lessons from this lamentation to deliver our soul from impending doom. In this end-time, many pastors and preachers are no longer building with precious stones on the Sure Foundation – Jesus Christ. Rather, they are building with rubble, i.e. the philosophy of men and modern ideologies in order to make Christianity “intelligible” to a 21st century audience.
