Author Archives: Grayson Pope

Reading: Jeremiah 30-32; Psalm 21

Father, my heart was incurable. There was no medicine to cure it. I was utterly dead in my sins, but you, being rich in mercy, sent Jesus to die for the sins of the world. Now, through his resurrection and ascension, you have put your Holy Spirit inside of me, renewing and curing my heart. You love me with an everlasting love. You punish me when I deserve it, but your correction doesn’t mean your love for me has left. Your faithfulness to me continues. You have written your law on my heart and put the fear of you inside of me. Your Spirit corrects and convicts me each day. I cannot pretend that I’m unaware of your commands, for the Spirit calls them to mind and your Word surrounds me. Fear of you is good for me and my children. It leads to wisdom and life. You charge each of us with our own iniquities, Lord. May I accept the consequences accordingly, knowing full well the ultimate price for my sin was paid for by the blood of Jesus.

Reading: Jeremiah 26-29; Psalm 20

Father, some trust in governments and some in militaries, but I trust in your name. Those other kingdoms and nations will fall and collapse, but your Kingdom will rise and stand forever. I, like each of your followers, live as an exile here on this earth. I long for a home which I cannot know here. But my hope is in knowing that one day you will call me home for good. My time in exile is not to be lost, however. You desire your people to seek the welfare of the communities you send them to. You desire them to pray for their towns and cities, and to be active participants in their flourishing. These are the tasks I will commit myself to while in exile. O Lord, I take comfort in knowing you have plans for my good, that you don’t seek evil for me and that I have a future and a hope in Christ. So I press on to know more and more of you with the promise that I will find you if I seek you with my whole heart.

Reading: Jeremiah 18-22; Psalm 18

Father, you are my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. You rescued me from the grip of darkness because you delight in me. How merciful you are! Your way is perfect and your Word proves true over and over again. You equip me for your purposes that I may bring you glory. If I tell myself, “I will not speak anymore of your name, and I won’t tell anyone of your works,” it feels as if my bones were on fire and I become weary from holding it in. Lord, you make it clear that what you want are people who do justice and righteousness, deliver the oppressed, treat the refugee, orphan, and widow with care, and never shed innocent blood. May their cry become my own, that I may share your heart. 

Reading: Jeremiah 1-6; Psalm 14

Father, when you look down from heaven to find any who do good you find that there is none. Every person has sinned and fallen short of your glory. For generations your people looked to the horizon for salvation to come out of Zion. Oh, how glorious that I live in the days after that salvation came in Christ! You raised up one who would not fall into temptation or give into sin, then you handed him over to be crushed for all those who, like me, continually sin against you. O Lord, let us rejoice today in your grace! Let us stand by the roads and look for your ancient path where the good way is, and let us walk in it that we may find rest for our souls. Keep me from becoming apathetic about your love and your cause. Before I even existed you knew me and the good works you had set aside for me. Keep me on the good way that I might complete those works.