Choice Gleanings

October 16

DAILY READINGS: 2 Kings 18; Jeremiah:51:25-64 [25] Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. [26] And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD. [27] Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. [28] Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. [29] And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. [30] The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken. [31] One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, [32] And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. [33] For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. [34] Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out. [35] The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. [36] Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. [37] And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant. [38] They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps. [39] In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. [40] I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats. [41] How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! [42] The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. [43] Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. [44] And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. [45] My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD. [46] And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. [47] Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. [48] Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD. [49] As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. [50] Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. [51] We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house. [52] Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan. [53] Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD. [54] A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: [55] Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: [56] Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite. [57] And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. [58] Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary. [59] The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince. [60] So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. [61] And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; [62] Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. [63] And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: [64] And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
See All...; 1 Timothy 2

...for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. Genesis:31:12And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.
See All...

Have you been in situations where someone has taken from you something that was rightfully yours? It may have been money or position. Laban robbed Jacob of his wages, but God saw it all and He helped Jacob gain it all back. Joseph said to his brothers later on, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Gen:50:20But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
See All...). No one can hurt you without God knowing about it. He will look after you and work things out for good. It may not be wealth or position that we gain, but as we trust the Lord and His love, we become more Christlike. —M. Robins

Posted with permission from gospelfolio.com.