Daily Devotional For Sunday, September 13, 2026
Good morning Southside! I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading suggestion and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16), means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online. Our daily devotional reading for today comes from Jeremiah 50:1-3:
“The Lord gave Jeremiah the prophet this message concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians. (2) This is what the Lord says: “Tell the whole world, and keep nothing back. Raise a signal flag to tell everyone that Babylon will fall! Her images and idols will be shattered. Her gods Bel and Marduk will be utterly disgraced. (3) For a nation will attack her from the north and bring such destruction that no one will live there again. Everything will be gone; both people and animals will flee” (NLT).
By the time we get to the end of the book of Jeremiah, God has given Jeremiah a prophecy about the end of the Babylonian Empire. This mighty superpower would come to the end of its reign. In 539 BC, God raised Persia to be the next superpower so that God’s prophecy about the Jews returning home after being in exile for 70 years in Babylon (Jer. 29:10), would come true. This prophecy was fulfilled. In 607 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar began his attack on Israel and Judah. It took thousands back to Babylon to be slaves. In 537 BC, Persia allowed the descendants of these Jews to return home. Length of time – 70 years (Jer. 29:10).
For years, God used Jeremiah to prophesy that God was going to raise up a superpower to destroy Judah and Israel. His words fell on deaf ears. They assumed that because they were God’s chosen people, they were protected, no matter how sinful they became. In today’s passage, Babylon, who had been God’s means of attack, now is God’s object of attack. How would God bring about the fall of Babylon?
After the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 562 B.C. the neo-Babylonian power had just over twenty years to run. His son Amel-Marduk (Evil-Merodach) was assassinated in 560 B.C. by his brother-in-law Neriglissar (560–556 B.C.). His son Labashi-Marduk reigned a matter of months and was supplanted by Nabonidus (556–539 B.C.). The rise of the Persians under Cyrus (550–530 B.C.) by God lays the groundwork for God’s people to return home. God uses in-fighting and lust for power, control, and supremacy to bring down the Babylonian Empire.
This should be a lesson for us in America. On December 17, 1814, former President John Adams, wrote a letter to John Taylor on the survivability of democracy. He wrote these words: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." He went on to write that democracies never fall due to outside forces, but from within itself. In his letter, he said that men’s passions when they go unchecked, produce fraud, violence and cruelty. Adams had a concern that the democracy for which he helped establish in the 13 colonies would not last due to man’s nature to abandon God, his lust for liberalism, his quest for tolerance and his passions run amuck in society. This is us today. If you would like to read more on this, read David McCullough's book, John Adams. You can buy this from Amazon at this link: John Adams.
It is easy for us in America to think we are invincible and that we can become decadent and sinful on the levels of Sodom and Gomorrah and not be punished by the Lord. Just like the Jews in our passage today, who forgot to be God’s chosen people living under the covenant established by God through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we have forgotten our roots as well. We cannot be so arrogant to think we can mock God and escape His wrath and punishment.
We just remembered the 25th anniversary of 911. Remember, History is “His – story.” It is not our story. It is not America’s story. It is not the world’s story. History is “His – story.” When we forget this, we then tell history from our perspective, not His. We make it all about ourselves, not God who created and gave us this great country. If history tells us anything, it is this fact: countries rise and countries fall. We’ve seen this in our lifetime. Remember the pride of East Germany? Remember the pride of the Soviet Union?
As Christians living in America, this is not our home. We are just passing through this land. As God’s people we should pray for our nation and honor and heed what God says in 2 Chronicles 7:14. We need to remember the promise of Psalms 33:12. We just assume that since we have been here since 1776, America will always be here. Arrogant disobedience, immorality, infanticide, idolatry and mocking God brought about the downall of Judah.
Since Hebrews 13:8 is truth, do you really think the Lord will treat us any differently than He did Judah for America’s own arrogant disobedience, immorality, infanticide, idolatry and mocking God? We even have “churches” in America who are proponents of this sinful arrogance, mockery of God and disobedience. In the Old Testament, God called idols or “images” “dung pellets” (Jer. 50:2) Ezekiel in his book uses this expression 39 times. The Hebrew word is [עֲצַבֶּ֔י, atzov]. This was God’s intentional and deliberate ridicule of any and all idols.
Reflection Assignment: God’s promise to the Jews living in exile was given in the atmosphere of punishment. What do you think God thinks of our idols today or your idols today? Our Lord is jealous of any idol we have. So, in your own life, where have you seen the Lord’s hand of discipline due to you having any idols?
Scripture To Meditate On: Exodus 34:14, “You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationship with you” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I do not want to have any idols. If I do, please reveal to me what they are so that I can repent. I understand an idol could be a person, a child, a pet, a job, a hobby, a talent, an idea, money, retirement, or something material. I want to honor Ex. 20:2-4 and Matt. 6:33. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!-- Pastor Kelly
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