#DailyDevotion God’s People Don’t Always Want To Hear God’s Word
November 19th
Read Jer 38:1–28
Jer 38:3-6 Thus says the LORD: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” (4) Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” (5) King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.” (6) So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.
Guess who’s having a bad day? Yep, you guessed it, Jeremiah. He was preaching what the Lord had told him to preach. Sure we can relate to the city officials who put Jeremiah in the cistern. What Jeremiah was saying was tantamount to treason. We don’t care when people are preachers call out the sins of our country and say we deserve the bad things that happen to us either, though not many are telling their fellow countrymen to work with our enemies to accomplish our country’s defeat. But that was what Jeremiah was doing. He was telling the people and the king of Jerusalem to surrender to the Babylonians and they would all be fine, otherwise certain destruction would fall upon them.
Having been delivered by someone who respected Jeremiah as a prophet, he is brought to the king who interrogates Jeremiah. Jeremiah knows the king won’t listen, believe or do what he says. The king makes him promise not to tell anyone what he was told and he would not be killed and so Jeremiah does so. The lives of Jerusalem are on the king now.
Well there are many pastors and laity out there who may be in similar boats today. Pastors mainly in Old Word and the US and both in other countries face persecution because of the Word of God. In the US pastors normally face persecution from their own congregations and sometimes Church bodies because they are being faithful to the Word of God. They are not preaching what people want them to preach but what they want to hear. Their salaries are cut, their electricity in the parsonages is cut off, and lies and rumors are spread to discredit them. At least in foreign countries where both laity and pastors face persecution because of the Word of God it’s not from fellow Christians but rank unbelievers, pagans, Hindus, Buddhist and Muslims. But we should all take comfort in this, that our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for us was treated the same way. We who follow him will likewise be treated that way also.
Lord Jesus Christ, when we befall persecution for your name’s sake, grant us faith in your blessings that we may not lose heart but remain faithful unto the end. Amen.