Jeremiah 38
-Jeremiah, because of the Word of
the LORD given, finds himself at odds with raging men of influence in the city
of Jerusalem who thought he was discouraging the men of war with his
pessimistic prophecies and that giving up was the only way to survive (Jeremiah
38:1-4). They go to the king, Zedekiah, and want Jeremiah put to death for his
prophecies. King Zedekiah tells them he can basically do nothing against them,
which gives them opportunity to put him into a cistern of the king’s son,
Malchijah, in the court of the guardhouse. Jeremiah is sinking in the mud of
the cistern where there was fortunately no water, and it seemed he would die
there. However, Ebed-melech the Ethiopian went to bat for the prophet of God
and petitioned the king for a rescue effort, which was successfully made. He
stayed from that time in the court of the guardhouse (Jeremiah 38:5-13). After
these things, King Zedekiah came to Jeremiah wanting a word. Though hesitant
(for good reason), the prophet told the king the truth about how to survive
once again and the king hid the words and the prophet of God from further harm
in the desperate situation that they faced with Babylonian siege and captivity
inevitable (Jeremiah 38:14-28). *Application* People naturally do not like
negative news. When God gives you a word that is negative in a situation,
expect retaliation and hate just like Jeremiah experienced. But, also remember
that God is with His people when He sends them on a mission with accurate and
true prophetic words. He will rescue and use some random and sometimes even
powerful sources for His deliverance, just like we see here in this passage. Do
His will no matter how hard it may seem.
No comments:
Post a Comment