A CHANGE OF HEART

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In Christ, Mark

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

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”

All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.

And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

Jeremiah 38:24-28

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

As the 38th chapter of Jeremiah comes to a close, we find an interesting attitude change occur in Zedekiah, the final king of Judah before the Babylonian takeover.

You remember that this was the king who scripture tells us did evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 24:19), paid no attention to the words of the Lord spoken by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:2), and handed Jeremiah over to his officials to be put to death (Jeremiah 38:4-5).

Not exactly someone you would consider a good guy.

And yet, as we have seen many times over in the Bible, people can experience a change of heart and bad people can become very good in the end. In our passage today, we find Zedekiah joining the list, at least temporarily. Look again at these words:

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”

All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.

And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.  Jeremiah 38:24-28

You’ll recall that Jeremiah had just had an exchange with Judah’s king which involved the prophet giving Zedekiah a proposition. If the king would surrender himself to the Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, then not only would Zedekiah’s life be spared but so would his family’s. Additionally, the city of Jerusalem would be spared from destruction. All the king had to do was to comply with what God was telling him to do and all would be fine.

Now we don’t know quite yet whether Zedekiah was ready to finally listen to God and be obedient to His desires but what we do know is that the king of Judah definitely shows a willingness to not have Jeremiah killed. Rather, we find the king doing what he can to ensure the prophet would be protected and survive.

Zedekiah knew the heart of his officials. They had already wanted to put Jeremiah to death and if they had discovered the prophet was still spewing words of potential doom at the hands of the Babylonians, they would most certainly finish the job they started when they placed Jeremiah in the cistern to die. And so Zedekiah advised Jeremiah as to what he should say if questioned about the nature of the conversation he had with the king. He was to tell them that he was pleading for the king’s mercy so to not be sent back to the dungeon of Jonathan’s house where he would die.

As we see, Zedekiah knew his people all too well because no sooner did he give Jeremiah advice that the officials came questioning the prophet and, in turn, Jeremiah told them just what Zedekiah told him to say, words that could not be invalidated because no one else was privy to the conversation between him and the king.

In other words, there was nothing else to do but leave Jeremiah alone and that’s exactly what they did. He returned to the courtyard of the guard where he would remain safe and alive until the day Jerusalem was captured.

What are we to take away from today’s message from the word of God?

I think God is reminding us that we should never give up hope that people might have a change of heart and turn from bad to good. For in the end translation, we all have potential to be as good or bad as we choose to be. There have been plenty of stories of people who lived very good lives but then turned very bad. Conversely, there are loads of stories (in and out of the Bible) where people who were very bad who changed and became very good.

The key is the work of the Lord in one’s life. If the Lord is pushed aside, then Satan is ready to enter in and take someone from good to bad. But if a person is already being adversely influenced by Satan and chooses to push him aside to allow the Lord to enter in, then many good outcomes can result.

Where are you today? Are you in need of a change of heart like Zedekiah, to allow good to reign supreme in your heart over evil?

If so, the Lord is waiting to abide with you and in you to transform your life forever, leading you to righteousness instead of wickedness.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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