Daily Christian Devotional

29 December, 2025

Jeremiah 31.15-17, Psalm 124, 1 Corinthians 1.26-29, Matthew 2.13-18

Jeremiah gives us one of Scripture’s most raw images of grief: Rachel weeping for her children. The Bible does not soften this sorrow or hurry past it. God allows lament to be named, voiced, and heard. Yet into this place of unbearable loss comes a quiet promise: “There is hope for your future.” God’s word does not deny suffering, but insists that it will not be the end of the story.

Psalm 124 looks back with honesty and gratitude. Danger was real; destruction was near. “If the Lord had not been on our side…” Deliverance is remembered not as luck or strength, but as sheer mercy. God is the one who breaks the snare when escape seems impossible.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that God’s saving work often looks unimpressive by worldly standards. God chooses the weak and the lowly, so that hope rests not in power, but in grace. Salvation belongs to God alone.

Matthew’s Gospel brings these truths into painful focus. The holy family flees as refugees; children are killed by violence and fear. God’s Son enters a world of real grief, not protected from it.

As Christians, we pray with honesty, we lament with those who mourn, and we trust the God who brings hope even out of devastation.

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Prayer

Faithful God,
you see the tears we cannot stop and hear the cries we struggle to voice.
Be near to all who grieve, all who flee in fear, and all who feel powerless.
Break the snares that bind, restore hope where it is lost,
and teach us to trust your mercy rather than our strength.
Through Jesus Christ, who shared our suffering and leads us into life.
Amen.