Thurs.’s Devo - God’s Protective Favor for the Faithful

Read: Jeremiah 39:1-41:18; 2 Timothy 1:1-18; Psalms 90:1-91:16; Proverbs 26:1-2 Jeremiah had been prophesying for years about the destruction of Jerusalem and now, 11 years after Zedekiah became king, the Babylonians broke through the wall and took the city. Zedekiah and his officials tried to escape even though Jeremiah had warned him not to. They were captured and taken to Riblah, Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign headquarters where they made Zedekiah watch as they killed his sons. Then they gouged out his eyes so the last thing he would remember seeing was the slaughter of his own sons. After that, they led Zedekiah in chains to Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar told his captain to find Jeremiah and give him whatever he wanted. He could choose to come to Babylon or stay behind. This is what God does for his faithful. He makes even their enemies to be at peace with them. Jeremiah had a promise for the Ethiopian that had rescued him from the cistern. God promised that He would keep Ebed-melech safe to reward him for his faithfulness to God and his kindness to Jeremiah. As Zedekiah was being led in chains to Babylon, Jeremiah was released from his chains and set free to go where he wanted to go. Jeremiah chose to go back and help Gedaliah in Judah. He had been made governor, by the Babylonians, of the ones left in Judah. When the Judeans who had fled to Moab, Ammon and Edom heard the news that Gedaliah was now governor of Judah, they returned to live in Judah. One of the relatives of Zedekiah was Ishmael and he thought he deserved to be the governor since he was of royal blood, so he plotted to kill Gedaliah. Johanan tried to warn Gedaliah but he refused to believe it. Sure, enough Johanan was right and Ismael killed Gedaliah and all the Judea and Babylonian soldiers in Mizpah. The next day, when 80 men came to worship in the Temple there, Ishmael killed 70 of them. The other 10 bribed him with promises of wheat, barley, olive oil and honey. Ishmael took all the people in Judah captive and planned to take them to Ammon. Johanan, the military officer who had tried to warn Gedaliah about Ishmael, found out about what he had done and came with an army and rescued the people and took them to a village where he planned to take them to Egypt. They were afraid to stick around and see what the king of Babylon would do when he found out that the governor he had set up had been killed along with his soldiers. Paul wrote a second letter to Timothy reminding him of the faith he had inherited from his grandma Lois and the gift that had been given him when Paul laid hands and prayed for him. Paul encouraged Timothy to fan the flames of his heart and not give in to the spirit of fear and timidity but to use the gift of faith that God had given him which was full of power, love and a sound mind. He reminded Timothy and us that we were not called into this holy life because we deserve it but because it was God’s plan from the beginning. It was to show us his grace and power to the world. Even if everyone deserts us, like all of Paul’s friends did, we are to carefully guard this precious truth that has been entrusted to us. Lord, may we victoriously endure till the end.