Peace In The Playground — A LifeWords Devotion

Because you have plundered many nations,
now all the survivors will plunder you.
You committed murder throughout the countryside
and filled the towns with violence.

“What sorrow awaits you who build big houses
with money gained dishonestly!
You believe your wealth will buy security,
putting your family’s nest beyond the reach of danger.
But by the murders you committed,
you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives.
The very stones in the walls cry out against you,
and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.

“What sorrow awaits you who build cities
with money gained through murder and corruption! (NLT)

We seem to live in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. A world in which the power mad narcissists wield their corrupted authority. A world where unjust and cruel people get away with their injustice and cruelty. And this is not only seen in the affairs of nations, but in families, in workplaces, in community committees, in churches.

It won’t last. The people of God, in the times this was written, were facing God’s judgement because of their disobedience to him. They are being described here. But also being described are the Babylonians who will be instruments of God’s judgement. One lot of wicked people are going to punish another lot of wicked people.

It is a sad and even depressing picture. And yet God seems to be reminding all such people that he will have the last word. Their ill-gotten gains won’t last. Their power will come to nothing in the face of his own mighty power.

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It is as if the world is like a school playground. The children are unruly and mistreating one another. Chaos reigns. But in the background, the school principal is watching and waiting to act. He is not ignorant of the arrogance and violence he is witnessing. They won’t get away with it in the end.

One day, God will call “enough”. Then will come what the Scriptures call “Shalom”, a world of where justice and mercy prevail. There will be peace in the playground at last.

Blessings

David