Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 3rd​

Over Nations​

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.

Jeremiah 1:9-10

As with Isaiah, God touched Jeremiah's mouth. Isaiah started the same way. God touched his mouth with the coals from the altar and gave him power in speaking. Jeremiah's words, then, become the key to his power, for it is the living, burning, shattering, building, mighty power of the word of God.

Jeremiah was set over nations and kingdoms. This was no mere poetry. The messages of this book were addressed to all the great nations of the world of that day — to Egypt, to Assyria, even to Babylon in its towering might and strength. Jeremiah was given a word for all these nations. I believe this is repeated in every generation. Here are the nations of the world, with their obvious display of power and pomp and circumstance, with leaders who are well-known household names, marching up and down, threatening one another, acting so proud and assertive in themselves. But God picks out an obscure young man, a youth thirty years of age whom no one has ever heard of, from a tiny town in a small, obscure country, and says to him, Look, I have set you over all the nations and kingdoms of the earth. Your word, because it is my word, will have more power than all the power of the nations.

That is a remarkable description of what is our heritage as Christians in Jesus Christ. James says that the prayer of a righteous man releases great power. When you and I pray about the affairs of life we can turn the course of nations, as the word of Jeremiah altered the destiny of the nations of his day. When we preach and proclaim the truth of God, even though we are obscure and no one knows who we are, that word has power to change the course of nations.

So Jeremiah was set in the midst of death and destruction, but God said he would plant a hope and a healing. His word was to uproot and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow — and that is always the work of God. In a nation there are many things which have to be torn down — things which men trust in — just as in an individual's heart and life there are things which need to be destroyed.

I talked with a young man about his marriage who said to me, I don't understand what's wrong with my marriage. I'm doing everything that I know to do, but our relationship isn't right. I said to him, Yes, I'm sure there is something wrong, and God will show it to you. There are things you're doing in your marriage which you're not aware of. But right now you are blinded to them. You think things are right, and yet they're not. All this indicates is that there are still things God needs to tear down — points of pride, moments of discourtesy, perhaps, that you don't recognize, habits and reactions of worry and anxiety and anger and frustration that you've fallen into or given way to, and you don't even know about them. We all have areas like these in our lives. The work of God is to open our eyes to these things, to destroy them and root them out — and then, always, to build and to plant. God never destroys just to destroy; he destroys in order that he might build up again.

Father, I pray that I will find the secret of the courage of this young man to stand in the day of national danger and disaster, and to be faithful to my calling.

Life Application​

We are living in a time of crisis, when 'truth stumbles in the streets'. Will we choose to retreat from speaking the Truth in love? Or will we stand in the power of our Sovereign God against the destructive powers of darkness?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 4th​

You are a Fortified City​

Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land — against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 1:16-19

I remember that when I was a boy in high school, sixteen years old, I was arrested once — served a warrant because it was alleged, wrongly, it was proved, that I had been hunting out of season. I remember yet how fearsome it was to receive that warrant for my arrest, to open it up and read these words: The People of the State of Montana versus Ray C. Stedman. I thought, What unfair odds! The whole population of the state of Montana against me!

That is what this prophet Jeremiah had to face. All the people of the land, and its kings and priests, would all be against him. But God said, Don't you worry, you shall stand. I'll make you a stone, an iron, and a bronze against them. Nothing will shake you. And the amazing thing is that though this young man was thrown into prison, put in a dungeon where he was mired in the mud, put on a bread-and-water diet, though he was ostracized and isolated, set aside, rejected and insulted, and finally exiled into Egypt, never once when God asked him to speak did he ever fail to say the thing God told him to say. What remarkable courage this young man exhibited!

Yet, through all of it, he learned four things: He learned the sovereignty of God, his control over the nations of earth. He learned the ruthlessness of God, whose judgments would be unmerciful against his people who persisted in turning away from him. He learned the faithfulness of God always to fulfill his word, no matter what was said. Finally, he learned to suffer with the heart of God, the tenderness of God. This man suffered, he wept. He lost hope for a while and cried out, O that I had never been born! He felt the awful hurt of his people, and wept over them. But through it all he realized that he was but feeling the suffering of the heart of God over people who turn him aside, and the tenderness of God that draws them back at last, despite all their wandering.

Almighty God, how grateful I am that whatever I must face in this world, you will give me the grace I need to face it.

Life Application​

Do we want to merely know about God -- or do we want to intimately know God? What was the process by which Jeremiah learned four essential elements of God's character? How did this knowledge of God fortify Jeremiah to endure unremitting testing and hardship?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 5th​

Do You Remember?​

The word of the Lord came to me: Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 2:1-3

This is part of the first message of Jeremiah to the nation of Judah. It highlights for us what God has to say to someone who has begun to drift away from him. Have you ever had that problem? I find there are times in my life when, without even realizing it, I have begun to lose some of the fervor and the joy and the peace which marks the presence of God in my life, flowing through my life as it ought.

The tragic thing about that condition, as so exemplified in the nation of Judah, is that this can happen, but nobody knows what is wrong. That was happening to Judah. They really blamed God for the whole thing. That is what most of us do, too. Judah said it was God's fault, that he did not keep his promises, did not deliver them when he ought to, did not keep them from their enemies as he promised. They were charging God with gross misconduct and with inability to keep his promises.

So God has something to say to this nation. What does he say? The first thing he says is call them to look back and reflect on what life was like when you first began a love relationship. God says, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me. In marital counseling I have dealt with couples who have been married twenty-five or thirty years but who are having difficulties. They are tense, angry, upset, and sometimes they will not even speak to one another. I have had to sit down with couples like that and try to find a way to begin a healing process. Long ago I learned the best way is simply to say, You know, before we start, I need to get acquainted with you a little bit. Tell me something about yourselves. How did you meet, and where? You can feel the atmosphere soften, and their hearts begin to expand a bit, as they think back to the days when they were not angry or upset, but were in love, and as they remember what that meant. Half the battle is won when you can get couples thinking back to what it was like when they first knew each other.

Do you remember those first days in the relationship between you and the Lord — the wonder of love, and the joy of it? What the prophet is bringing out here is that at such a time, the loved one is the chief priority of life. No other relationship is more important than yours with him, or his with you. He is preeminent in your affection. This is what God is wanting you to recall. This is the first thing God says to a heart which has begun to drift — Remember, remember — what it was like when you were secure in my affections, separate unto me, like Israel, holy to The Lord and exclusively his. Remember that you are the first fruits of his harvest. Remember that you are safe — I protect you. Do you remember your first days?

Thank you, Father, for the way you call me back to my first love with you.

Life Application​

'The bride eyes not her garments but her dear Bridegroom's face.' Have we become so self-consumed we have lost our focus on our Bridegroom? Do we need to return to our first-love?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 6th​

The Way Back​

How can you say, I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving — in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.

Jeremiah 2:23-24

Do you see the picture? If you have ever worked among horses you know what he is talking about. Here is a mare in heat, lusting. A little later on, in Chapter 5, he speaks of lusty stallions who keep neighing after their neighbors' wives. God uses these vivid figures to awaken people to where they are. There is a wonderful frankness about the Scriptures which sometimes rebukes the Victorian prudishness we have fallen heir to and often exhibit in talking about some of these things. God intended us to learn from the animal kingdom. He gave animals a different kind of sexuality than he gave us, so that we might learn from them, might have a vivid picture of how we look when we start lusting after everything that comes along, and being available for any kick, any thrill, any drive, other than God himself. So God holds up this vivid picture. It must have meant a great deal to the people of Judah. They understood what an animal looks like in heat, how eager it is to be satisfied.

I remember a scene from my high school days in Montana, when I was working on a ranch up there. One day a group of people came out from town to go horseback riding. Among them were some school teachers, and one was my English teacher, who was somewhat of a prude. I remember that she was given a stallion to ride. When we were saddling up, the stallion got tremendously excited about a mare nearby. To this day I can vividly recall the bright crimson of her face as she sat on that horse and tried to restrain it, while everybody else tried to pretend nothing was happening!

This is the kind of figure God holds up and says, That is what you're like That is you, lusting after everything that comes by, living for kicks, wanting to be satisfied some way. That covers everything from continuous, non-stop television, or endless golf, to the fleshpots of strip clubs, to heroin, to hate and violence. That is what happens when the heart begins to drift from God into degeneracy.

Father, thank you that you have called me to yourself. I do not understand that, but I am grateful. I pray that when I lust after other things I would come to that place where I would want to return to you; not merely as a sensation for this moment, but I would be faithful in carrying it out in the living of my life.

Life Application​

'From the best bliss that earth imparts we turn unfilled to Thee again.' Are we drinking from polluted streams which can never satisfy our soul's thirst for the Lord God, the fountain of Living Water?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 7th​

Painful Love​

While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.

Jeremiah 7:13

The first thing God does when you begin to drift is to warn you what the consequences are going to be. He is faithful to tell you that if you sow to the flesh you will of the flesh reap corruption. There is no way to escape it. Even forgiveness for it does not remove that. If you sow to the flesh, you will of the flesh reap corruption. Sin will leave its scars even though the wound is healed. God warns that there is going to be hurt in your life, hurt in your heart, hurt for the loved ones around you. There is no way to escape it. But then he says, ...I called you, but you did not answer. ((Jeremiah 7:13)b)

The call of God is a picture of love seeking a response, reminding you of who he is, and how much he loves you, trying in various ways to awaken a response of love and gratitude, to call you back. He is like the father in the story of the prodigal son, watching the horizon for that son to return, longing for him to come back. This is the picture of God, looking after men and women, boys and girls, being faithful to them, longing to have them back, calling them again and again. This is a picture of the patience of God. This may go on for years in the case of an individual. All this time he asks us to pray for those like this, to reach out to them by the power of prayer.

But when that does not work, he has one step left in the program: judgment. You see, judgment is not God's way of saying, I'm through with you. It is not a mark of the abandonment of God; it is the last loving act of God to bring you back. It is the last resort of love. C. S. Lewis put it very beautifully when he said, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Every one of us knows that there have been times when we would not listen to God, would not pay any attention to what his Word was saying until one day God put us flat on our backs or allowed us to be hurt badly. Then we began to listen. That is what Jeremiah had to learn. He needed to understand that this nation had reached the place where the only thing that would heal it, the only chance it had left, was the judgment of God — allowing the hurt and the pain of invasion, and the loss of its national place.

This is why, earlier in the chapter, he commanded that prayer for the people cease, but that preaching continue. Prayer delays judgment, but preaching hastens it. What this nation needed to restore it and heal it was judgment. So God said, Don't delay it; don't hold me back. This is what will do the work. Radical surgery is all that is left, so stop praying.

Thank you, Father, for the way you have been faithful to bring consequences upon me when I resist you, so that I learn to walk in your ways.

Life Application​

How do we respond when we, among others, experience the consequences of our sinful choices? Are we learning to welcome them as from our Father's loving heart and hand?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 8th​

Boasting in God​

This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

What a revelation of the greatness of God! Far beyond the greatness of men, a God of wisdom and knowledge and power is at work. The prophet's heart was directed to think of that. Man's wisdom is not enough. Let not the wise boast of their wisdom... Why not? Well, because man's wisdom is always partial wisdom. It never sees the whole story, never is it wide enough to take in all the factors involved. It is tunnel vision, narrow and limited. And that is why we are always thinking we have arrived at solutions to problems only to find in a few years that the solution has only made the problem worse. Pollution is a case in point, is it not? Warfare, and all the other great problems that confront us today. Man's wisdom is not enough. It is limited.

No, you cannot trust in the wisdom of man, can you? Nor in the might of man — ...let not the strong boast of their strength... Why not? Here is a man with great power and authority, a great force at his command to do what he wants — a dictator, a tyrant. Why does he not have the right to boast? Because his force is directed only at material things. It has no power to oppose an idea or a moral value.

He continues, ...let not the rich boast of their riches... Why not? Because riches can buy only a very limited number of things. Jesus spoke of the deceitfulness of riches. Riches give a man a feeling of power that he does not really have. They give him a feeling of being loved when he really is not, and of being respected when he is not respected at all. Riches cannot buy love and joy and peace and harmony. Many a rich man would give all he possesses for just a few moments of peace or joy.

Then what should you boast in? Ah, boast in this, Jeremiah, that you know me, and you have available to you the wisdom of God. True wisdom is the wisdom of God, and you can correct your own faulty, frail human wisdom with my wisdom. You have the might of God at your disposal, greater than anything the world knows anything about, a mighty moral force which is irresistible. You have riches beyond all compare, the simple riches of love and peace and joy and grace and mercy and truth, which no money can buy. Boast in this.

Father, no one has the wisdom to cope with the situations in which we live each day. I pray that I will recognize the essential necessity of you in my life, and will stop boasting in my own resources and boast only in you.

Life Application​

Have we discovered that human wisdom and understanding is flawed, inadequate and often deceptive? Do we seek first the wisdom and guidance of God's Spirit, using His Word as our standard?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 9th​

Our Protection is in God​

But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.

Jeremiah 11:20

Perhaps the central lesson of this book is what happened to Jeremiah as God prepared him to minister in a day of decay. He was called to a strange and difficult ministry. God gradually had to prepare him and toughen him increasingly for the assignments he was to be given in this nation. So Jeremiah was plunged into an even more difficult time than he had ever known before, a troubled time for the nation.

God sends young Jeremiah back to the nation with another word of warning and denunciation for the third time now in Jeremiah's ministry, God tells him not to pray for this nation: Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble (Jeremiah 11:14 RSV).

This was what had distressed Jeremiah so much — that God would not even let him pray for them. He had laid a vocal quarantine on Jeremiah and had said, I do not want you to pray, for prayer delays judgment. This had great effect upon Jeremiah. From here on we are going to see God's toughening of this young man in preparation for what was coming.

Jeremiah found something happening which absolutely threw him into consternation. He learned that there was a plot against his life by his own neighbors and friends. He tells us about it, beginning in Verse 18: The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then thou didst show me their evil deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. (Jeremiah 11:18-19a RSV) Jeremiah realized how naive and blind he had been to trust these neighbors and friends. Now he understood that they had plotted against his life.

I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more. (Jeremiah 11:19b RSV) Jeremiah was dismayed that his friends would refuse to support him and would betray him in this way. He comes to the Lord and cries out, But, O Lord of hosts who judges righteously, who tries the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance upon them, for to thee I have committed my cause. ((Jeremiah 11:20) RSV)

He did the right thing. He brought his problem to the Lord. Some of us do not bother to do that when a trial strikes. We run to somebody else. But he brought it to the Lord. Yet he was a thorough-going evangelical, for, though he brought his problem to the Lord, he had with it also a complete plan for how God ought to solve it!

Father, help us lay aside our pride and commit ourselves to you, and your causes, for you are our protector always.

Life Application​

How do we respond when God's response differs from our understanding? Do we presume to counsel Him? Or have we learned that His wisdom, His Presence and His power are everything we need for every situation?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 10th​

Can You Compete With Horses?​

How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? ... If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?

Jeremiah 12:4a-5

Jeremiah cries out to God with some troubled questions on his mind. These are the standard questions people ask when things begin to go wrong in an individual life, or in the life of a community, or a nation. I heard recently that a very well-known and well-liked high school girl disappeared mysteriously a few days before, and no one knew where she was. All her high school friends were praying for her. She was a Christian, and they were sure that God would protect her. But word came that her body had been found. She had been abused and killed. These young people were stunned, and they were asking the same question: Why? If there's a God of love and power, why couldn't he have done something about it? If he is a God of power, he could act. If he is a God of love, he would want to act. Why does he sit there and let things like this happen? That is one of the great questions thrown at our faith. It is for this very reason that Jeremiah was crying out to God.

God's response is very interesting. In essence, God says, Jeremiah, what are you going to do when it gets worse? If these kinds of things throw you, if your faith is challenged and you are upset and you cry out to me and ask these questions, what are you going to do when it gets very much worse? Then where are you going to turn? What are you going to stand on then? If you have been running with the men on foot and have gotten tired, then what are you going to do when you have to run against horses? And if in running through the open prairie you fall down, what are you going to do when you have to struggle through a hot, sweaty jungle, whose thick growth impedes your progress in every way? These are searching questions, are they not?

We know that Jesus said that, as we near the end, there will come earthquakes and famines and wars, with nation rising up against nation, and that frightening things in the sea — the roaring of the waves — would make men afraid. And he called all this the beginnings of sorrow — merely the beginnings of sorrow. God's question to Jeremiah — and to us — is, Now, if faith grows cold and faint and weak in the midst of the pressures of today, what are you going to do when it gets worse? How will you compete with horses, when you give in against men on foot?

Well, Jeremiah expected God to lift the burden. I think most of us are due for a shock in our Christian lives when we reach that stage in Christian development in which we expect God constantly to work out our problems on easy terms ... and then one day he doesn't do it! That is always a shocking time to us, but that is where Jeremiah is right now. God does not say, Don't worry, Jeremiah, I'll work out your problems. I'll take care of everything. You won't have any more strain. Go right back to work. He says, Jeremiah, it's going to get worse, a lot worse; what are you going to do then?

Lord, grant me the strength I need to be prepared for whatever may come my way. I know I don't have the strength within myself to endure, but you can strengthen me to even manage in the thickets by the Jordan.

Life Application​

God does not coddle our fears with false promises. Are we establishing habits of trust today that will carry us through the increasing hardships and tests of tomorrow?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 13th​

The True Sabbath​

But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, then kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials.... But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.

Jeremiah 17:24,27

What a strange message to send! Why is God so concerned about the Sabbath all through the Bible, from beginning to end, and especially here in the last days of this nation? Why is it the Sabbath he focuses on? It is amazing how this message about the Sabbath has been distorted in the understanding of men in the church through the ages.

The Sabbath, you remember, began when God ceased from the work of creation and rested on the seventh day. He ceased from all his works. He tells man all through the Scriptures that this is a picture of the life of faith and trust in him. That life of faith is to cease from your own works and trust in God to work for you. That is keeping the Sabbath. All the ceremonials and rituals which gathered around this day are only to illustrate to us what God is getting at. In the book of Hebrews he says, ...for whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10 RSV)

The Sabbath is a picture to us of how God intends man to live — not by trusting in himself, not by trusting in any other man, or in what other men can do; but accepting this new way of life, which is God himself living in us, God himself working through us; and making our humanity available to him, with our mind, our emotions, our will, and everything about us; and saying,Lord, here I am. Here's the situation in front of me, the thing I have to do. (Maybe it is my work tomorrow and all through the week. Maybe it is some special demand made upon me by my children, by my husband or my wife. Maybe it is some difficult situation to which I must respond.) Lord, how do I meet it? Well, here I am, Lord. You meet it. You meet it in me. I'll do what is necessary, but I'll count on you to do it in me, and you'll be responsible for the results.

That is the Sabbath. That means you are at rest inside, because the strain is not on you, it is on God. You are at peace inside because you do not have to be responsible for what happens; he does. That is what it means to approach life at rest. That is the man who never turns dry and barren, but who remains green and strong and fresh in the midst of all the drought and disaster around him. That is the man or woman who remains as a green tree in the time of drought, who stands continually before God in the face of every demand and says, Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved.

Father, I pray that I may be able to rest in the Sabbath, cease from my own works, let Christ live through me, and know his victory in me.

Life Application​

How does our understanding of the Sabbath affect the essence of our Christian life? Are we attempting to live and serve as Christians with restless vigor? What is wrong with this picture?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 14th​

The Potter and the Clay​

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message. So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Jeremiah 18:1-4

We have commented in previous messages about the many things God uses to teach his people, these remarkable visual aids which appear from time to time in this book whereby God imparts lessons to this prophet. Jeremiah was sent down to the potter's house, and there he saw three simple things, conveying to him a fantastic lesson. You may have observed the same things that Jeremiah did, for the art of making a pot has not changed through the centuries. The wheel is now turned by an electric motor, but that is about the only difference. Even this is still controlled by the foot of the potter. The clay is the same as it has always been. The potter is the same, with his capable hands, working to mold and shape the clay into the vessel he has in mind.

What did Jeremiah see in this lesson? First there was the clay. Jeremiah knew, as he watched the potter shaping and molding the clay, that he was looking at a picture of himself, and of every man, and of every nation. We are the clay. Both Isaiah and Zechariah, in the Old Testament, join with Jeremiah in presenting this picture of the potter and the clay. In the New Testament we have the voice of Paul in that great passage in Romans 9, reminding us that God is the Potter and we are the clay. So Jeremiah saw the clay being shaped and molded into a vessel. Then some imperfection in the clay spoiled it in the potter's hand, and the potter crumbled it up, and began anew the process of shaping it into a vessel that pleased him.

Jeremiah saw the wheel turning constantly, bringing the clay against the potter's hand. That wheel stands for the turning circumstances of our life, under the control of the Potter, for it is the potter's foot that guides the wheel. The lesson is clear. As our life is being shaped and molded by the Great Potter, it is the circumstances of our life which bring us again and again under the potter's hand, under the pressure of the molding fingers of the Potter, so that he shapes the vessel according to his will.

Then, Jeremiah saw the potter. God, he knew, was the Great Potter, with absolute right over the clay to make it what he wanted it to be. Paul argues this with keen and clear logic in Romans 9: Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:20b-21) Of course he has. The vessel is shaped according to the image in the potter's mind.

So Jeremiah, by watching, learned that an individual or a nation is clay in the Great Potter's hands. He has a sovereign right to make it what he wants it to be. He has the skill and design to work with the clay and to bring it to pass. If there be some imperfection in the clay, something which mars the design, spoils the work, the potter simply crushes the clay down to a lump and begins again to make it yet a vessel according to his own mind.

Thank you, Father, for creating me and shaping me. I trust that you are sovereign in all that you do, and that your purpose for me is good.

Life Application​

What are three principles we may learn from the visual aid of potter and vessel? Are we learning to be grateful for the Potter's molding of our earthly vessels?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 15th​

Break the Jar​

Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, and say to them, This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter's jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

Jeremiah 19:10-11

Jeremiah was told, in the striking figure God employed for the benefit of these people, to take the potter's vessel he had bought and dash it to pieces on a rock. As they watched it fly into smithereens, so that it was impossible to bring it back together, these people were taught that they were dealing with a God whose love is so intense that he will never alter his purpose — even if he has to destroy and crush and break them down again.

You see, that is the way the world sees God right now. They see the hell which is coming into our world. And soon it will be worse, according to the prophetic Scriptures. There will be worse signs taking place, worse affairs among men. They will cry out against God as being harsh and ruthless and vindictive, filled with vengeance and anger and hatred. That is all the world sees.

But the people of God are taught further truth. Jeremiah had been to the potter's house. He had seen the potter making a vessel, and he knew that it was love behind this Potter's pressures, and that when the vessel was marred, this Potter was also capable of crushing it down again, bringing it to nothing but a lump, and then molding it, shaping it again, perhaps doing this repeatedly, until at last it fulfilled what God wanted. That is the great lesson Jeremiah learned at the potter's house, and that we can learn at the potter's house, as well.

One of the great lessons we can learn from the New Testament's use of the figure of the potter is in the book of Acts — the incident when Judas brought back the thirty pieces of silver and flung them down at the feet of the priests, after having betrayed his Lord. The priests gathered the money, took counsel together and bought with the money a potter's field. It was known thereafter as the field of blood, (Matthew 27:6-10). This again is God's wonderful reminder of the heart of our Potter. For if you watch this Potter very carefully, at work in your life, you will find that his hands and his feet bear nail prints, and that it is through blood, the blood of the Potter himself, that the vessel is being shaped into what he wants it to be.

When we are in the Potter's hands, feeling his pressures, feeling the molding of his fingers, we can relax and trust him, for we know that this Potter has suffered with us and knows how we feel, but is determined to make us into a vessel useful to the Master (2 Timothy 2:21). What a tremendous lesson Jeremiah learned at the potter's house — one which can guide and guard us under the pressures of life.

Lord, you have used the trials and pressures in my life to teach me to surrender to you. I invite you to use the means to continue to mold and shape me into the person you want me to be.

Life Application​

Are we learning to recognize that God's disciplines are evidence of his unquenchable Love? How do we respond to this love that persists in making us whole?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 17th​

God's Faithfulness​

But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten. Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.

Jeremiah 20:11-12

Previously in this chapter, Jeremiah poured out his complaint to the Lord while he was in the stocks. But now faith comes to Jeremiah's rescue and begins to strengthen him. Faith counterattacks to uphold the tottering prophet. Jeremiah is now fighting back against the assault he is victim of. He begins now to reckon on reality, to count as truth what God had made known to him. That is the way to handle any frightening situation. You can be almost sure that the way you see it is not really the way it is. This is what you have to remember. It appears to be that way, but it is not that way. Your mind is being assaulted, your thoughts twisted and distorted by a naturalistic view of things. The only answer is to begin with God, the unchangeable One, the One who sees things the way they really are. Start with him and with what he has told you, and work from that back to your situation, and you will see it in an entirely different light.

This is what the prophet does here. He starts with God. The Lord is with me [that is the first thing to remember], and he is a mighty warrior [he knows how to fight, how to repel assaults]; therefore my persecutors will stumble [their plans are not going to work out], they will not overcome me. In fact, they will be greatly ashamed, for they will not succeed. Faith reassures him that this is what will happen. And this is the correct view, because this is what happened. And so he cries out, Verse 13: Sing to the Lord; give praise the Lord! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked (Jeremiah 20:13)

That sounds like the account of the incident in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas, thrown into the dungeon and thrust into stocks at Philippi, began at midnight to sing praises to God, because their faith was fastened onto God and his greatness, and not upon their circumstances. This is what Jeremiah learned to do — to sing praises to the Lord.

What allowed him to do this? Perhaps Jeremiah remembered what God had said to Jeremiah in Chapter 1: I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled, (Jeremiah 1:12). So even though it may take a while, even though things do not go right at first, do not be shortsighted and blame God, for he will watch over his word to perform it.

A verse in Paul's letter to Timothy gathers this up for us beautifully. Paul wrote to Timothy, in an hour of great turbulence, and said, If we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot disown himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

Thank you, heavenly Father, for this reminder of your faithfulness to the prophet Jeremiah, and your faithfulness to your promises today.

Life Application​

What is our point of reference when evaluating life's perplexing circumstances? Are we training our minds to begin with God's Truth and his faithfulness?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 18th​

True Leadership​

Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Jeremiah 22:3

Jeremiah stands before king Zedekiah with a message that the leadership of the nation was terribly wrong. All through the Bible, leaders are to be shepherds of the people, watching over them and taking care of them. This is what this king, and others like him, had failed to do. Leaders are to be an example of righteousness and justice before the people. It is a very serious thing when elected officials do things which are wrong because every leader is, as Paul makes clear to us in Romans 13, a minister of God. He may not be a believer, but he himself is an agent of God, and is to represent God's standard of righteousness. Therefore, when these leaders of the land are guilty of wrongdoing, the effect of their wrongdoing is far greater than if they were just ordinary citizens. Jeremiah was sent to tell this king that this was what was wrong in his life. He had failed to correct the leaders of the land and to be an example of justice and righteousness.

Another thing that government leaders are to do: Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow. These are the minority groups in any country, the weak, the helpless. The king is told here that it is his task to watch that he does no violence to them. Here is a recognition of the power of government to hurt the weak. Bureaucracy can grow up, making it easy to turn a deaf ear and to be unavailable to those who are really in trouble. Special care must be taken by any government to watch over the weak among them.

Finally, Jeremiah is given a vision of the true shepherd. For the first time in this great prophecy he looks down through the centuries, and sees the coming of One who would fulfill God's ideal, and on beyond that to the time when he will return again actually to carry it out in practice: The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior (Jeremiah 23:5-6). That is the name applied to Jesus by the Apostle Paul in First Corinthians 1:30: ...Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. He himself is our righteousness. So the prophet sees him coming as God's rightful King, and one day to come again so that Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.

Lord God of hosts, may my mind and heart be open to understand what you are doing in the nations of our day. Help me to bow before you and let you search my heart, that I may be a vessel fit for your use.

Life Application​

To whom are national leaders ultimately responsible? What essential characteristics does God require of these leaders? Who is the ultimate Shepherd and rightful King?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 19th​

In His hands​

Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.

Jeremiah 26:12-15

This is an official gathering, a trial being held. Jeremiah has been impeached by the people. And the religious authorities of the nation, the priests and the prophets, are behind this. They have laid a serious charge, a charge of treason, against the prophet. These people felt that because the temple was God's house, God would defend that temple no matter what happened within it. They thought the temple was inviolate, and that the city was protected, because it was the city of God. They were saying, It can't happen here! But Jeremiah said it would happen. So they laid against him a charge of blasphemy and treason against the temple of God and the city of God.

Notice in Jeremiah's response that there is not the slightest deviation on his part. This would have been the time, if he were so inclined, to have said to these people, Now just a minute. I want to make one thing perfectly clear! I have indeed prophesied, but I didn't mean to have it taken as seriously as you are doing. I'm sure that if you'll let me off, I can intercede before God for you, and perhaps he'll change his mind. But he does not say that. He does not alter his word one bit: Amend your ways and your doings, and the Lord will repent of the evil which he has pronounced against you.

Jeremiah does what the people of God have been exhorted to do all through the Scriptures at times like this: leave it in God's hands. The battle is his. If you are charged unjustly with something you are not guilty of, do not try to defend yourself. The battle is God's. Leave it to him. He will work it out. Put yourself in the hands of God, and he will see you through. This is what Peter says about the Lord Jesus: When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted in him who judges justly. This is what Jeremiah does. So often we are so concerned about defending ourselves, vindicating ourselves. We are so concerned lest somebody think something wrong about us. It is perfectly all right to explain things as far as possible. But when it is evident that nobody is willing to listen, then just put it in God's hands. He knows what he is doing.

Lord, give me the courage and the faith to put everything in your hands.

Life Application​

When we respond to God's call to be his witnesses, do we equivocate his Truth? When we anticipate the possibility of rejection and persecution, do we confidently place ourselves in God's hands?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 20th​

Who Knows?​

For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and in my name they have uttered lies — which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:23

The closing words of the chapter are specific prophecies against certain false prophets among the exiles in Babylon. This was a time of terrible uncertainty. People were torn — What shall I believe? There were many conflicting voices, many rival factions. The supreme need of the hour was that someone might know the facts and declare them, and thus give the people an indication of what to do. God says, I am the one who knows. I know what is going on in the inner lives of these people, and I will make it known, I will bring it out. That is the voice you can trust.

God makes known his way and his will and the truth in three ways in the Scriptures. First, in past history. I would commend to you the reading of history. History records all the errors that we see around us today. The solutions are also recorded. No new error is introduced into the world which has not already been answered.

Second, in current events. He is always bringing truth to life. That is why we as a nation go through difficulties. We have seen many times how everything that the most powerful men of our nation think they can keep hidden is forced into the light. That is the way God works in the affairs of men.

And third, God makes the truth known through the direct revelation of his word, the truth as it is in Jesus, coming to the man of God who speaks it out before the people.

So in this day of confusion, of uncertainty, which voice will you listen to? The voices of the occult world around us? The false prophets who are telling visions which they claim to be coming from the voice of God? The secular voices which tell us that things are not the way the Bible says they are? Which voice will you listen to? Whom will you follow? What will be the guideline for your actions? The message of Jeremiah is: God rules in the affairs of men. And if you want to know how to behave now, listen to God, for he is the one who knows, and who makes known.

Father, thank you that you are the One before whom I stand naked, with nothing hidden, and that you are the one who exposes and brings to light. I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart may be acceptable in your sight.

Life Application​

What are three resources which will serve to reveal to us God's way, his will and the truth? Is his criteria informing our minds and responses? Are we personally inviting his penetrating scrutiny?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 21st​

The Pain that has no Cure​

Why do you cry out over your wound, your pain that has no cure? Because of your great guilt and many sins I have done these things to you.

Jeremiah 30:15

God takes the full responsibility for what happens to Israel. He says, I have done these things to you. It is as though he stands with his hands on his hips and says to them, Look, I'm responsible. Any questions? He says that it is because of their sins, their flagrant sins.

We do not want to read this as though it is something remote from us. If you are inclined to say only, Oh, it's such a pity what's going to happen to Israel, remember that this is your story, too. This is the way God works. He deals with Israel this way because this is the way he deals with everybody. There is a scriptural principle reflected here which all too often we forget. Just because judgment does not fall immediately upon people, they think they have gotten by. But Paul says, Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction... (Galatians 6:7-8a). That is inevitable. God does not cancel that out by the forgiveness of sin. That is part of what we call the natural consequences of evil, the temporal judgment of God. It is never canceled out, any more than the rest of what Paul says is canceled out: ...whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8b) This is God's promise for now — not just in heaven some day but now. The joy and glory of life will come to us if we walk in the Spirit, and that is inevitable. But so is the judgment for our sin, the inevitable consequences of our own selfish choices.

This means, of course, that ultimately a recompense comes to us in life now for the evil in which we have indulged our flesh — whether it is blatant, open, sensual evil, or whether it is inward — spiritual pride, bitterness, and all the other sins of the spirit. It makes no difference. Evil brings its own results. As someone has well said, You can pull out the nail driven into the wall, but you can't pull out the nail hole.

God reminds us here that there will be pain and heartache and trouble because of the evil of our past. The sins of our youth will catch up to us — usually in middle age! And there is no escape. As Kipling has said, The sins that they did two by two, they pay for one by one. God says this is inevitable. It is inevitable for his people Israel; it is inevitable for us as well. Yet even in that trial, God is present in His mercy and grace.

Thank you, Lord, for the lesson I learn as I sometimes must walk through the consequences of my own poor choices. But thank you that your grace is still sufficient even for these things.

Life Application​

Are we surprised by the inevitable consequences of our sins? Are we also surprised by joy when the Spirit produces good fruit through our walk with Christ? Do we recognize both as aspects of God's sovereign initiative?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 22nd​

Everlasting Love​

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness... Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 31:3,20

As a Father who cannot forget his son — no matter how sharply he must reprimand him, but whose heart is tender toward him — so God is tender toward his people. And behind the darkness and the distress is the everlasting love of God. This phrase, I have loved you with an everlasting love, is very beautiful. The word everlasting is one of those words which baffle us. Even in the original language it is difficult to define. Everlasting connotes more than duration, means more than merely eternal; it has in it an element of mystery.

Let your mind run back into the past over all the years of history, and you come to a place where finally you just cannot think any further. Yet logic affirms that even beyond this point there has been existence and time. This is what everlasting means. Let your mind run into the future, and you come to the same kind of haziness, a place where you no longer can comprehend what the ages mean, where times and durations seem meaningless.

That is the vanishing point in the future, beyond which lie experiences for God's people, but which we are unable to grasp. That is the mystery of this word, everlasting. It is a word which means, beyond dimension,greater than we can think. This is what Paul is expressing in Ephesians: ...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, (Ephesians 3:18-19a RSV).

So when you get to the place where the sins of the past, and those of your mothers and fathers before you, are taking their toll upon your life, and you are tempted to cry out and say, Why? Why should this happen to me? What have I done to deserve this? When this happens, God is at pains to remind us that in the midst of it what we are experiencing is his everlasting, mysterious love.

That is, he is saying to us, Look, it may pain you, but it won't damage you. This very hurt you are going through is what will produce in you the character that both you and I want. It is this which will mellow you, refine you, soften you, open you up, make you a human being. Instead of a hard, callous, resistant, self-centered person, you'll become open and responsive and selfless. That is what God is saying. That is the mysterious quality of this love which draws us on. I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. In other words, I have not let you miss out on anything which I have planned for you, as a result of the exercise of the flesh in your life. That sounds strange to us, does it not? We want to escape the consequences. Instead, God leads us through them.

Thank you, Father for your everlasting love, which endures forever.

Life Application​

Are we learning to see God's Father love in his disciplines? Are we awed by the vastness of his incomprehensibly eternal love for his children?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 23rd​

The New Covenant​

The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah... This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, Know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Jeremiah 31:31a, 33, 34

This is a marvelous promise. God is going to do what the people themselves could never do. Despite all their failure, he is going to bring them around. He will do it by a new process. First, he says, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. That is a new motive. God is going to change the motivation of a person's life; changing it to come from within instead of without. The Old Covenant is a demand made on us from without. This is impossible for us to carry out. But the New Covenant is something put within us. What is it? Love. Love is the motive in the New Covenant. To respond out of love for God, out of love for what he has already done in our life and heart, that is the new motive.

The second manifestation is a new power. I will be their God, and they will be my people. God himself is the strength of man's life. He supplies all the power to act. They are the ones who do the acting; he is the One who does the supplying. This is a beautiful description of the New Covenant. Everything coming from God; nothing coming from me. Not, I, trying to do something for God, but God doing something for me, through me, in everything I do. That is the new power.

Then there is a new family. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, Know the Lord, because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. All those in the family know each other. We already know what are the dominant drives, and underlying hopes and passions of each life, because they are all the same: That we might know Him better, become like Him. That is why, when Christians meet one another, though they have never met before, they always have a ground of sharing. They know each other and share the same life.

The New Covenant rests on this great platform: ...for I will forgive their wickedness, and will remember their sin no more. That is how God proposes to win this battle. When the Law fails, and we cannot respond the way we know we ought to, how are we going to win? It is changed when we begin to understand that provision has already fully been made for all our failure. God does not hold that failure against us. His love will be with us and will sustain us through even the results of our folly and our failure. He does not hold anything against us; he is for us, and will turn all the difficulty we are going through to our own advantage, so that it makes us transformed people. That is the New Covenant in action. As we learn to walk in dependence upon a new motive and a new power, in a new relationship with one another, resting upon the forgiveness of God, we discover that marvelous things are happening in our life.

Father, forgive me for the way I am so sure I can make it myself. Help me to assume this poverty of spirit, which then opens to me the very riches of eternity.

Life Application​

What are three life-changing aspects of the New Covenant God makes with his people? Do we see this as God entering into our pain and weakness and transforming it by His power and everlasting love?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 24th​

Qualities of Genuine Faith​

Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it. Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin... I knew that this was the word of the Lord; so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver.

Jeremiah 32:6-9

That is a remarkable act of faith. It belongs with those acts of faith in the record of Hebrews 11. As we examine it, we learn what it means to walk by faith. Every one of us is called to walk by faith, and there are certain qualities of faith seen here.

First there is what we might call the caution of faith. Notice how the account progressed. God said to Jeremiah, in the loneliness of his prison, Your cousin Hanamel is coming to you, offering to sell his field. A little later on the account says, Then Hanamel my cousin came to me ... in accordance with the word of the Lord. Later still, Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. The important thing to see is how Jeremiah tested this impression he received.

Many of us have wondered how these Old Testament prophets were given words from God. Many times you find this phrase in the Scriptures: The word of the Lord came to me... How did it come? This account suggests that the usual way God spoke to these prophets was the same way he speaks to us, i.e., through a vivid impression made upon the soul, an inner voice informing us of something.

But the great lesson to learn from this account is that this inner voice is not always the voice of God. Sometimes the god of this world can speak through that inner voice, sounding very much like the voice of God. Many a person has been tremendously injured in his faith, and has damaged the faith of others, by acting impulsively on what this inner voice has to say, without testing whether it is the voice of God or not.

Faith, though it acts in a remarkable way, does not act fanatically. Faith acts cautiously, expecting God to confirm his word. Jeremiah was no novice in the active life of faith. He knew that God would confirm his word, and he had learned to wait upon God. God confirmed the word by fulfilling the prediction he had made.

Yet with all the caution of faith, notice another quality of faith here. It is what we might call the audacity of faith. This was a thoroughly unreasonable thing to do! It was ridiculous to buy property when the city was about to fall into enemy hands. This is always a quality of faith. Faith has an apparent ridiculousness about it. You are not acting by faith if you are doing what everyone around you is doing. Faith always appears to defy the circumstances. It constitutes a risk and a venture.

Noah built an ark where there was no water, and where there had never been any rain. I am sure the people of his day called him Crazy Noah — building an ark out on the dry land! Abraham went on a journey without a map. People asked him, Where are you going? He said, We don't know; we're just going, that's all. God is leading us. They must have twirled their fingers alongside their heads and said, Poor Abe — he's lost his marbles! That is the quality of faith — it acts in an apparently ridiculous way. But it acts this way because it is based on a higher knowledge. It always has a certain basis on which to rest. Therefore faith does not demand that we run out and do foolish, impulsive acts, without any reason. The reason is higher than many people can see, but it is there.

Thank you, Lord, that you have called me to walk by faith and sometimes that means in acting in ways that make no sense to the world around me. Help me to trust that you will establish your word and show yourself faithful.

Life Application​

What are two distinguishing elements in a walk of faith? Are we learning to both recognize and receive God's direction for our faith ventures?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for August 24th​

Qualities of Genuine Faith​

Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it. Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin... I knew that this was the word of the Lord; so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver.

Jeremiah 32:6-9

That is a remarkable act of faith. It belongs with those acts of faith in the record of Hebrews 11. As we examine it, we learn what it means to walk by faith. Every one of us is called to walk by faith, and there are certain qualities of faith seen here.

First there is what we might call the caution of faith. Notice how the account progressed. God said to Jeremiah, in the loneliness of his prison, Your cousin Hanamel is coming to you, offering to sell his field. A little later on the account says, Then Hanamel my cousin came to me ... in accordance with the word of the Lord. Later still, Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. The important thing to see is how Jeremiah tested this impression he received.

Many of us have wondered how these Old Testament prophets were given words from God. Many times you find this phrase in the Scriptures: The word of the Lord came to me... How did it come? This account suggests that the usual way God spoke to these prophets was the same way he speaks to us, i.e., through a vivid impression made upon the soul, an inner voice informing us of something.

But the great lesson to learn from this account is that this inner voice is not always the voice of God. Sometimes the god of this world can speak through that inner voice, sounding very much like the voice of God. Many a person has been tremendously injured in his faith, and has damaged the faith of others, by acting impulsively on what this inner voice has to say, without testing whether it is the voice of God or not.

Faith, though it acts in a remarkable way, does not act fanatically. Faith acts cautiously, expecting God to confirm his word. Jeremiah was no novice in the active life of faith. He knew that God would confirm his word, and he had learned to wait upon God. God confirmed the word by fulfilling the prediction he had made.

Yet with all the caution of faith, notice another quality of faith here. It is what we might call the audacity of faith. This was a thoroughly unreasonable thing to do! It was ridiculous to buy property when the city was about to fall into enemy hands. This is always a quality of faith. Faith has an apparent ridiculousness about it. You are not acting by faith if you are doing what everyone around you is doing. Faith always appears to defy the circumstances. It constitutes a risk and a venture.

Noah built an ark where there was no water, and where there had never been any rain. I am sure the people of his day called him Crazy Noah — building an ark out on the dry land! Abraham went on a journey without a map. People asked him, Where are you going? He said, We don't know; we're just going, that's all. God is leading us. They must have twirled their fingers alongside their heads and said, Poor Abe — he's lost his marbles! That is the quality of faith — it acts in an apparently ridiculous way. But it acts this way because it is based on a higher knowledge. It always has a certain basis on which to rest. Therefore faith does not demand that we run out and do foolish, impulsive acts, without any reason. The reason is higher than many people can see, but it is there.

Thank you, Lord, that you have called me to walk by faith and sometimes that means in acting in ways that make no sense to the world around me. Help me to trust that you will establish your word and show yourself faithful.

Life Application​

What are two distinguishing elements in a walk of faith? Are we learning to both recognize and receive God's direction for our faith ventures?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.