WISHFUL THINKING

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said: “Inquire now of the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders for us as in times past so that He will withdraw from us.”

But Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands, which you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside the wall besieging you. And I will gather them inside this city. I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in furious anger and in great wrath. I will strike down those who live in this city—both man and beast—and they will die of a terrible plague. After that, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword and famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will put them to the sword; he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion.’”

Jeremiah 21:1-7

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we come to Jeremiah, Chapter 21, we are introduced to the King of Judah, King Zedekiah, who had a request for God’s prophet:

“Inquire now of the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders for us as in times past so that He will withdraw from us.”

Judah was under attack by the Babylonians led by King Nebuchadnezzar and King Zedekiah seemed to think that Jeremiah would be able to convince the Lord to come to the rescue of the king and his people, performing miraculous wonders of deliverance as He had before, especially for their ancestors.

There were two problems with Zedekiah’s request:

First, God was fed up with the sinful disrespect of His people and the Babylonian assault was ordained by Him as judgment upon His people.

Second, King Zedekiah was so evil and wicked himself and so it was laughable that he would petition God for any mercy at all.

In other words, any thought of God pulling back and withholding His punishment was simply wishful thinking. Let’s break down the two main problems a little more to show you why.

In reading through Jeremiah to this juncture, the main accusation God waged against His people was obvious. They had chosen to worship false gods and idols in direct violation of His command to have no other gods before Him. God had told His people He was a jealous God and thus He would not tolerate unfaithfulness from His people and since His people willfully decided to not turn away from their sin, God made good on His threat of judgment. The Babylonians would attack Judah and Jerusalem, leaving the land and city in ruins as they plundered everything of value before hauling off the Israelites into seventy years of exile.

As for King Zedekiah, we need only look at these words from 2 Chronicles to get the gist of his character:

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 36:11-14

Not exactly a stellar reputation, right?

The king had a hardened heart and was evil, stiff necked and rebellious toward the Lord. The people he governed followed his lead and became more and more unfaithful toward the Lord, following the detestable pagan worship practices of other nations and even defiling God’s holy temple. A price would have to be paid for this wickedness and God was exacting that price in the way of the Babylonians and their onslaught against Judah and Jerusalem.

So given all this, I can’t help but think that the Lord laughed out loud when He heard King Zedekiah ask for His action to save him and his people. In fact, look again at how He responded to the king, spoken through His prophet Jeremiah:

“I am about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands, which you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside the wall besieging you. And I will gather them inside this city. I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in furious anger and in great wrath. I will strike down those who live in this city—both man and beast—and they will die of a terrible plague. After that, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword and famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will put them to the sword; he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion.”

Zedekiah’s wishful thinking had him hoping for redemption and liberation from his attackers but the time was well past for any reconciliation from God. Zedekiah’s stubborn inclination toward sinfulness, an inclination shared by the Israelites, would go down as a huge mistake on their part. For God refused to show mercy, pity, or compassion. Rather, He fought against His wicked people with an outstretched hand and mighty arm in anger and wrath. If Zedekiah thought facing Nebuchadnezzar was bad, wait until he had to face God Himself.

Needless to say, there were no miraculous wonders shown by God toward His people during the Babylonian onslaught and the subsequent exile that the Israelites would be taken away into, an exile that would last seventy years. The evil King Zedekiah would be the last recorded king of Judah before that happened.

So what do we take from this? What is the Lord saying to us today to help us learn to live as He wants us to?

It’s simple really.

God expects us to turn away from sin and to seek Him and His righteousness.

When we do, we bask in the glow of His favor and live in a way that is pleasing in His sight.

When we don’t and continue to sin, unrepentant and stubbornly inclined toward disobedience, then we can expect to experience the fullest measure of God’s correction and judgment. To expect otherwise, well, that would just be wishful thinking.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com