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Daily Devotion — Jeremiah 24:5–6 — God Turning Bad Into Good
I know a couple who share freely about a devastating time in their marriage. But the focus of their story isn’t the hurt or the wounds they endured and/or inflicted. Instead, they talk about how God used that bad experience to reveal deep-seated issues which, once addressed, turned their marriage around for good. As a result, they emerged from that painful pruning closer to each other and to Him. Now, they speak about that difficult period with gratitude for all the good that has come from it.
God Promises Hope
Speaking of God turning good into bad, He once asked, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” The prophet replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat” (Jeremiah 24:3). The people of Judah who remained after Babylon’s first Judean raid were the bad figs. Rather than choosing to heed God’s warnings, they turned to Egypt for help. But all of pharaoh’s horses and men couldn’t save Judah from utter destruction. Instead, Egypt too was judged. When all was said and done, Egypt would never again be a major world power. What about the exiles? At first, they “sat and wept” by the rivers of Babylon (Psalm 137:1). But then a new perspective emerged. Jeremiah proclaimed that they were the good figs…
