the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Our Daily Homily - Volume 3
Jeremiah 45:3; Jeremiah 45:5—Thou didst say, Woe is me now!... but thy life will I give thee.
Trouble is an inevitable part of human experience. "Man that is born of a woman," we are told, "is of few days and full of trouble." In addition to their share in the common heritage of man, it often falls to the lot of God’s saints to suffer specially in connection with his kingdom and glory. They know the fellowship of his sufferings. They sigh and cry for all the abominations which are being wrought in their midst. The very association of Baruch with Jeremiah extorted the groan, "Woe is me now! for the Lord hath added sorrow to my pain."
But out of our sorrow and pain, when born patiently and trustfully, comes the more abundant life. "Behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh; but thy life will I give unto thee." Pain casts a vail on all our pleasant earthly things, so that we take no further interest in them, and turn our thoughts to the unseen and eternal. Sorrow drives us to the God of all comfort. By the fire our dross is consumed. Through travail of soul the characteristics of godliness are born. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
God often reveals ourselves to ourselves till we cry, Woe is me now! When God’s light discovers our sins of appetite, of avarice, meanness, and niggardliness; of temper, fretfulness, and peevishness; of lack of conscientiousness, the partial fulfillment of promises, unfaithfulness, and misunderstandings. When we think of the want of constancy, truth, prayer, faith, and love, we are plunged in despair. Woe is me now! But out of all this there springs abundant life, and we rejoice that the great Revealer did not spare.
