SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 36-39
Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me… (Jeremiah 38:20-21)
Surrender or suffer, these are Zedekiah’s choices.
For a variety of reasons, God is allowing the Jews and their capitol to be defeated and destroyed.
Imagine being in a similar situation, where you face an extremely difficult crisis.
Our normal instinct is to fight and manoeuvre and scheme our way out of it.
We face the same choice as Zedekiah, surrender to God and to what is good, or suffer.
Jeremiah faced the same choice; he could have ran, he could have refused to speak.
Obeying God for him meant all kinds of suffering and misery – but he continued to obey.
To surrender does not mean to do nothing; but it does mean to stop fighting God.
Our task is to continue to do the right thing, even if it is hard – and leave the results to God.
Whatever situation – losing your job, facing a financial crisis, marriage unraveling, dealing with injustice…
In those moments, instead of fighting, manoeuvring or scheming our way out of it, focus on doing what is right.
Continue to act and speak with integrity, continue to trust God’s purpose and provision.
Don’t trust in your schemes, trust in God’s will and purpose.
Both paths are hard, both paths may involve suffering, but only one has God standing behind it!
For Zedekiah, surrender was hard, but running away didn’t work either.
Had he chose God’s way, he would have seen how God’s good purpose would have worked out.
Try God’s way, as hard as it seems, and you will see God’s good purpose work out too!
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, obeying You is hard. But disobeying You is even harder. Help me to trust You, and obey You.