Wed.’s Devo - God Saves Jeremiah

Read: Jeremiah 37:1-38:28; 1 Timothy 6:1-211; Psalm 89:38-52; Proverbs 25:28

Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah the king instead of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim who he took the first time he came to Jerusalem. Zedekiah was the son of Josiah but was a weak puppet of a king. 

Zedekiah sent the priest Jehucal and Zephaniah to Jeremiah to ask him to pray for them. Jerusalem had paid Egypt to send their army to help them which had discouraged the Chaldeans and sent them home. 

Jeremiah got a word for the king that the army of Egypt was going to return home to Egypt and then the Chaldeans will return and finish what they started. They will capture it and burn it down. 

Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go look at the land he had bought from his uncle but was stopped at the gate of the city and accused of deserting to the Chaldeans. He was beat and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan which had been turned into a prison.

Jeremiah stayed there till the king came secretly and asked him what God was saying would happen. Jeremiah told him he would be delivered over to the king of Babylon, then he asked for mercy for himself. Zedekiah let him out of prison and had him put in the court of the guard and ordered him given a loaf of bread a day till all the bread was gone. This saved Jeremiah’s life.

Zedekiah’s handlers were the Judeans: Shephatiah, Jucal and Pashhur. They heard what Jeremiah was prophesying about the city being taken and that they must surrender to the Babylonians. This was hurting the moral of the army so they ordered the king to put Jeremiah to death. King Zedekiah told them to do what they wanted to do to Jeremiah so they put Jeremiah in a cistern filled with mud.

Jeremiah would have died there if Ebed-melech hadn’t heard about it and went to the king to ask permission to take Jeremiah out. The king allowed him to and it took 30 men to pull Jeremiah out of the mud of the cistern. The king came to Jeremiah and asked him what God was saying and promised not to hand him over to those men again. 

Jeremiah told him that if he didn’t surrender to the Babylonians, the city would be burned and he would not escape from them. The king was more afraid of his own men than the Babylonians. Jeremiah told him they would not kill him, but the Babylonians would take all his wives and sons to Babylon. Zedekiah made Jeremiah promise not to tell the Judean’s that he had asked the word of the Lord but to tell them that Jeremiah had asked him to spare his life. Jeremiah told them what the king had asked him and was allowed to live until Jerusalem was taken. 

In Timothy, Paul encouraged the workers to honor their masters especially if they were men of faith. 

If anyone taught a doctrine other than that of Jesus Christ, they were not to be a part of it. To be holy and content was their goal. We came into the world with nothing and we can’t take any of it with us when we leave, so it is to our benefit if we live grateful and not craving the things of this world. We are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. 

If we are blessed with riches then we are to use it to do good and share it with others. We are reminded that the true treasures are not tangible but spiritual. 

Lord, we bless your who is the source of all we have and are. You alone have immortality and you dwell in unapproachable light. We give you honor and eternal dominion.