The Lord is With Us When We Share His Word – Family Devotion – July 8, 2020

Read: Jeremiah 20:7-13

But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.
Jeremiah 20:11

The Lord is With Us When We Share His Word

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Tiny Tony thought he was the best little basketball player in the entire neighborhood. Even though he was in kindergarten, he would run up to much bigger kids and say, “I can beat you! I can beat you all!”

One day Tony went to the park with his dad and got his wish—a basketball game with all the neighborhood big kids. “We’re going to win! I know it!” he boasted. Sure enough, tiny Tony went home that day feeling at the top of his game because his team did win—and they won by a lot!

However, Tony was too young to understand or realize what really had happened. Tony’s dad was tall, strong, and athletic and had played basketball in college. The entire game Tony’s dad was quietly making sure that Tony was going to win, playing great defense and offense for him. Actually, Tony didn’t have much to do with the big win at all. His big, strong dad had done all the work for him!

Today we hear some words from the prophet Jeremiah. He had a very difficult job. He was very young when he started preaching, and every time he preached, he found that he was outnumbered—everyone was against him! In this chapter of Jeremiah, he had even been hurt by others and put in jail!

But just as Jeremiah started to become frustrated, he remembered whose team he was on—God’s! God is not just strong and athletic though. He is the all-powerful and almighty God who made all things and rules over all things. That’s why Jeremiah said that, “The LORD is with me like a mighty warrior.” Jeremiah knew that God was on his side and would fight for him, and that meant Jeremiah would win and his enemies would fail.

Sometimes it may feel like nothing is going our way, or even that everyone is against us as Christians. But remember who is on your team—the mighty God of all! Not only does he rule over all things that he made, but he also crushed in defeat our greatest enemy, the devil. God fought for us on Calvary and won the victory over Satan and this world. This mighty Savior God will be with you just as he was with Jeremiah. And one day, he will bring you from this difficult life to the victory celebration of heaven. What good news! No one can beat us with God on our side because we have already won with Jesus!

Closing Prayer:

Dear Jesus, when I feel sad or alone, remind me that you are always with me. Give me strength to endure every challenge knowing that you have already given to me the victory of eternal life. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• Why was Jeremiah frustrated and sad about his preaching?
• How has God shown us that he has more strength than anyone, even the devil?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• Can you think of other people in the Bible besides Jeremiah who had difficult times preaching God’s Word?
• Why do so many people get angry when we simply want to tell them about Jesus?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• Why is it a fitting picture to describe God as a mighty warrior?
• Explain why we can say with Jeremiah that we will always win and our enemies will always fail, even if we may be persecuted or even die for our faith.

Hymn: CW 542:1,2 – Dear Lord, to Your True Servants Give

Dear Lord, to your true servants give
The grace to you alone to live.
Set free from sin to serve you, Lord,
They go to share your living Word,
The gospel message to proclaim
That all may know your saving name.

They gladly go at your command
To spread your Word o’er sea and land.
Be with them, Lord, and make them strong
To heal sin’s ills, to right the wrong.
Your rule is over wind and wave,
And mighty is your arm to save.