Living The Good Life?
Can you feel it? It's the beginning of our emergence from the worst pandemic we have ever seen. Life feels renewed. Covid 19 has literally laid siege upon our lives for the past year causing fear amid the specter of death. But during that time we have received God's grace, mercy and steadfast love in our lives. We are here today only because of His grace. All of us should praise and worship Him and willingly give our lives in obedience to Him. But the reality is that some will not see this as a time to listen to what God wants us to do. That was, unfortunately what happened with Judah and king Zedekiah. And shunning what God told them to do had disastrous consequences. I pray that you would listen and follow God's instructions to you, and that He would bless your life because of it.
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.’” God, through the prophet Jeremiah, called on king Zedekiah to surrender to His plan. God had ordained the Babylonian defeat of Judah because of Judah's disobedience and worship of foreign gods. God offered to spare Jerusalem and Zedekiah's very life if he would humble himself and surrender himself to God's will. God offers us life, if only we will listen to His prophetic word and surrender our life and plans to His will.
King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.” “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. (Jer. 38:17-18) Zedekiah responded to Jeremiah with an excuse for not accepting God's gracious offer to spare his life. He was more afraid of how others might react than he was with God's certain judgement. Jeremiah reassured king Zedekiah that God was in control and no one else. His life would be saved only through his obedience to what God told him to do. We can't allow ourselves to be more concerned with others opinions and reactions than we are with doing what God is telling us to do.
But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me: All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you: “‘They misled you and overcame you— those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you.’ “All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.” (Jer. 38:21-23) Jeremiah further told Zedekiah that his disobedience to what God was telling him to do would have consequences beyond his own life. It would lead to the destruction of his family and destructiin of Jerusalem. In disobedience, not only would he be mocked by those defectors whose opinions he had been worried about, but also from his own harem inside his palace, who would deride him on how easily he had been misled by the false wisdom of his advisors. Disobedience to God has profound consequences. Not following God's wisdom causes disastrous impacts in our homes, families and relationships.
Zedekiah asked for Jeremiah to share God's word with him. But after hearing what God had to say, Zedekiah still decided not to do what God told him would save his life. We look at this biblical story and we can see the price that Zedekiah and Judah paid for disobedience. Families destroyed...Jerusalem burned...Zedekiah blinded and taken into captivity...unnecessary pain and suffering for God's people. Yet every week, people hear the word of God and they too decide not to do what it says. God offers us the same choice as king Zedekiah, to be obedient to His word and live...or follow our own way into captivity and blindness because we believed the lies of Satan. Choose well my friends, choose well...
Blessings,
Rev. Glenn
