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Day 267 Lamentations 1:20 “See, O LORD, that I am in distress. My soul is troubled. My heart is overturned within me, for I have been very rebellious. Outside the sword bereaves. At home, it is like death. 21 “They have heard that I sigh, but no one comforts me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble. They are glad that You have done it. Bring on the day You have announced that they may become like me. 22 “Let all their wickedness come before You and do to them as You have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.” Who do you blame when you see trouble all around you? Do you blame your leaders, the people bringing the trouble, or yourself? Judah is in exile. Jeremiah weeps over Jerusalem. His weeping caused him to turn inward, to blame his sin and transgressions for what God did to His people in sending them into exile. Why would Jeremiah blame himself for the transgressions of Judah and Jerusalem? You might tell yourself he’s not to blame. He prophesied to the people. He told them what would happen if they didn’t repent. Yet, Jeremiah took the blame for God’s judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. As Christians, you are familiar with the statement—judgment begins with the house of God. Or judgment begins with you. Jeremiah confessed the sin of the nation as if it were his sin. He asked God to look at him not at the nation. When you take responsibility for the actions of the people around you, you cause people to notice their sins. They feel guilty for their actions. Guilt is the first step to repentance. With guilt comes conviction. Only when they feel convicted of their actions, will they repent of them. Take the first step. Repent for the sin of the nation. Pray for the leadership to have a change of heart. Don’t stop praying until you see God move because of your prayer. He will move because a heart desperate for God will get God’s attention. Jeremiah was desperate for God. So desperate that he confessed the nation’s sins as his own. He took full responsibility for the actions of the people. Are you ready to take responsibility for the actions of others so much that you pray for God to move? I know your first thought is not to take responsibility for someone else’s actions. They need to be responsible for what they did. They need to repent. How can they know to repent if they don’t know they’ve done anything wrong? The people told Jeremiah it was his fault they were in the situation they were in. He told them to stop praying to the queen of heaven and baking cakes for her. He told them to repent. When they did all their blessings stopped and they found themselves in exile, so they went back to praying to the queen of heaven and baking her cakes. People don’t want to hear they’re in the wrong. They want to keep doing what they’ve always done. It is only when they see you praying and taking responsibility for their actions, that some semblance of guilt will enter and with guilt, conviction, and with conviction, repentance. It won’t take place overnight. In fact, God told Jeremiah Israel would be in exile for seventy years. It would take that long for Israel to realize how far they fell and repent of their sin. Most Christians aren’t willing to pray for long without an answer, let alone seventy years. Yet there are some who pray until God brings the answer, no matter how long it takes. Are you one of those who are willing to pray until God answers no matter how long it takes? Let’s pray: Father, there is so much going on in the world around me, I don’t know where to begin to pray. Change my heart, Lord, and give me a heart of compassion for Your people. Let me see them through Your eyes. Let me hear Your heart for the people to know You, accept You, and follow You confessing their sin and turning their lives to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 8 March 2022 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay.