OBEY THE LORD

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.

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.”

Jeremiah 38:19-20

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

As we saw in yesterday’s devotion from Jeremiah 38, King Zedekiah of Judah received a proposition from the Lord as spoken through the mouth of His prophet. It simply said this:

IF Zedekiah surrendered himself to the officers of the king of Babylon, essentially giving up his throne, THEN he and his family would have their lives spared and Jerusalem would not be burned down.

Surrender and survive.

or

Choose to not surrender and see yourself, your family, and your city destroyed.

Those were the options available to Zedekiah. There was no middle choice. It was live or die, all or nothing.

So how would the king respond? Which alternative would he choose?

We find the answer in today’s scripture passage:

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.”

  

Note here that Zedekiah is doing whatever he can to try and wiggle himself out of giving up the throne to the Babylonians and he uses his fellow Jews to try and make his case.

We know from the scriptures that some of the Jews who formerly were under the rule of Zedekiah had already gone over to the side of the Babylonians. Perhaps these Jews were disenfranchised with the evil that Zedekiah manifested in his own life and in the kingdom he reigned over. That’s what Zedekiah wanted to make Jeremiah believe as he attempted to paint a picture of danger for himself if he surrendered to the Babylonians. He suggested that there would be a possibility the Babylonians would turn him over to his former people who would mistreat him.

It sounded convincing, right?

So would the Lord reconsider the framework of the proposition He gave Zedekiah?

Not exactly.  Look at what Jeremiah said to Judah’s king in response to his expressed concern:

“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.”

If God said that Zedekiah and his family would be spared harm if he surrendered to the Babylonians then He meant that Zedekiah and his family would be spared. Period.

You see, God always keeps His promises. There is no reason to doubt that He will not carry out what He says He will do.

With that, Zedekiah’s choice was easy. All he needed to be concerned with was obeying the Lord and doing what Jeremiah had told him to do. As long as he did that, things would go well for the king and his life would be spared.

Friends, in God’s word today, we had better be paying attention to the message at hand. For the Lord makes it crystal clear as to how we are to live through His word and will. The world may offer us many options, many ways to go, but the reality of life lived for the Lord God Almighty is that there is only one true way to go and that is the way He wants us to go.

We will go that way when and only when we obey the Lord in all that we do.

Zedekiah was to show his obedience by surrendering to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

We show our obedience when we surrender to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

In both cases, complete compliance with the Lord’s expectations and commands resulted in things going well for the obedient person to the point where they would be protected and spared from harm.

Have you inclined your heart to obey the Lord in every way?

If not, today is the day you need to fully surrender to Him and step into a life that is pleasing in His sight.

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