Jeremiah 38

Day 39: Jeremiah 38:1-28

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 38:20, NIV). 

                We can see in this chapter that Zedekiah is feeling pretty conflicted at this point. One minute he’s listening to Jeremiah and accepts what is going to happen to Jerusalem, then the next minute he gives the official the okay to kill him. By verse 10 he tells them to rescue Jeremiah from the cistern and then he questions Jeremiah again about the very things that he had already told him that God said. There are two problems here; the first is that we have to be mindful to not be double minded in the sense that we sway with whatever feels right or with the opinions of people. Zedekiah was trying to be okay and agreeable with everyone; he was fickle in the best way to put it. When we don’t have a made up mind as to what we are going to believe we will believe any and everything and our opinions will sway with the blowing of the wind. The second problem that we see is that people will ask you to tell the truth but they don’t really want to hear what is true. Zedekiah did not want to hear that he would have to surrender to the king of Babylon in order to spare his family because he was afraid that they would still kill him anyways. Oftentimes when people tell you that they want to know the truth what they’re really saying is that they want to the watered down sugar coated pretty painted pictured form of the truth. My life application study bible says “the official wanted accurate information, but not God’s truth” which is the same for people today. They want the truth but they want you to leave that “God stuff” out that causes conviction and challenges them to change. Remember to stand boldly and proclaim what God has given you to share even when people reject it. It is easy to tell people what they want to hear and have them be happy with you; it’s a little bit more difficult to speak boldly the truth when it is not always pleasing to the ear. Do so anyway because as long as you have God on your side, He will take care of you.