WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?

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In Christ, Mark

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

Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”

King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah 37:18-21

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

If you remember in yesterday’s devotion, Zedekiah, the king of Judah who the scriptures called out as being evil in the sight of the Lord, had the nerve to ask the following question to the prophet Jeremiah:

“Is there any word from the Lord?”

This came from a king who the word of God says had not “paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.” Now all of a sudden, as the Babylonian forces under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar had retreated from Jerusalem to address the advancing forces from Egypt, Zedekiah became interested in what God had to say. Jeremiah wasted no time in telling Judah’s king that he was not out of the woods at all with the Babylonians but rather would be delivered into the hands of their king.

Then, as we see in our scripture passage today, Jeremiah had a couple of questions of his own for Zedekiah:

“What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’?”

In other words, Jeremiah was asking, “What did I do to deserve this?”

All Jeremiah had done was try and go to the territory of Benjamin as the Babylonians withdrew to check out land that he had purchased, land that was rightfully his. Up to that time, he had been nothing but a faithful, reliable messenger for God. The Lord called on him to pass on His words and Jeremiah did just that, even if he knew those words would not be received well by the people he was addressing. And where did this get him? Falsely accused as a deserter before being beaten and imprisoned, all on Zedekiah’s watch.

So Jeremiah had every right to directly challenge the king as to what he had happened that resulted in him being put in prison. Every right. He was being held unjustly and treated unfairly, all in plain sight of the God he so faithfully served. Everything Jeremiah said to Zedekiah came to be true because he was speaking on behalf of God who speaks only truth.

That was far from what Zedekiah got from his own prophets, the prophets who flat out lied to the king and gave him a false sense of security when they told him he had nothing to worry about when it came to the Babylonians. Zedekiah’s prophets said Nebuchadnezzar would not attack but as Zedekiah well knew as he shared dialogue with Jeremiah, those words were definitely not true as the Babylonians had besieged Judah and Jerusalem with the goal of ransacking the entire land and hauling the Israelites back to Babylon.

And so Jeremiah had made his point and made it clear to a king who was not going to be ruling much longer. He had done nothing to deserve his imprisonment. And if anything was criminal, it was the actions of his own false prophets who had done nothing but mislead him. The stage was set for Jeremiah to make the following petition to Zedekiah:

“Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”

The prophet did not deserve to be in prison. He had done nothing to warrant such treatment, especially since it may result in him dying.

How would Zedekiah respond to Jeremiah’s request?

Scripture tells us that he listened and made changes to Jeremiah’s situation, giving “orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone.”

Jeremiah would be safe in the courtyard of the guard and Zedekiah ensured he would be fed. God’s loyal servant had been blessed and all because he stood up for what was right and challenged the king. With the Lord’s courage and strength, he spoke up and, as a result, saw his situation drastically improve.

In life, we, like Jeremiah, might find ourselves in unjust, unfair situations as well, situations that might leave us asking:

“What did I do to deserve this?”

In times like these, let us always draw on the Lord’s strength and courage, always ready to demand justice from those who are treating us unjustly.

For God is always ready to watch over us and set things in motion to ensure we are safe and cared for, even in the midst of uncertainty. He cares for His faithful followers and blesses those who stay true to His word, will, and way.

Never lose your trust in Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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