July 5, 2026 Devo

July 5th, 2026

Powerful Words from the Prophets
During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done?...Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. – Jeremiah 3:6-7 (NLT)
“Learn and Live!”

A couple of weeks ago, a 22-year-old man sadly fell to his death by going over the Nevada Falls in Yosemite National Park. The falls, which are fed by the Merced River, are nearly 600 feet tall. The rocks of the Merced are quite slippery and make it dangerous to venture into the water at all. So why don’t they warn people about the danger? They do! There are brightly marked signs in several languages warning people of the danger of going into the water. There’s even a drawing of a person going over the falls in case people can’t read. But still, several people through the years have died. Why? People ignore the signs.
Let’s lock in on a truth today that can help every single one of us. “You don’t have to make every mistake yourself.” When other people make choices that are destructive and hurt themselves and others, it should be a lesson for us. We see what they did or said. We see the results. How hard is it to say, “I don’t want that to happen for me, so I’m going to choose DIFFERENTLY”? Yet, for some reason, like the swimmers at Yosemite, we often ignore the signs.
That’s what God is pointing out in our passage today. Israel, God’s people in the north, are suffering dire consequences by ignoring God and choosing to follow other gods. They take themselves out from under God’s protection and care and end up defeated, ransacked, and taken away into exile. Judah, God’s people in the south, see this. But even after watching what happens to Israel, they do the exact same thing. They’re just like the swimmers who convince themselves that though other people have gone to their death, it’ll never happen to them. But it does.
God loved us so much that He not only gave us the victorious stories of people who followed Him in His Word. He gave us the tragic stories of those who chose to go their own way. He wants us to be wise enough not to have to learn every lesson by personal experience. Yes, learn from those who have chosen wisely and been blessed by their faithfulness and commitment. But learn also from those who have not chosen so well and guard yourself from those paths. You don’t have to make every mistake yourself. Learn and LIVE! That’s God’s Word for you today.