November 15th, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Stand Up and Be Counted

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Opening Prayer

Lord, I praise You for the gift of the Holy Spirit. May the Spirit give me guidance, strength, and comfort today.

Read Jeremiah 37:1-21

[1] Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. [2] Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet. [3] King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to the LORD our God for us.” [4] Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. [5] Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem. [6] Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet: [7] “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. [8] Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.’ [9] “This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! [10] Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.” [11] After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, [12] Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. [13] But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!” [14] “That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. [15] They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison. [16] Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. [17] Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from the LORD?” “Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” [18] Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? [19] Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? [20] But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.” [21] King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me” (John 12:26).

Think Further

Jeremiah predicted that Jehoiakim would not have any of his descendants on the throne of David (Jer. 36:30). When his son, Jehoiachin, was crowned in his place (2 Kings 24:8), it looked as if Jeremiah had gotten it wrong; and his enemies would no doubt have sought to discredit him as a prophet. Vindication came a mere three months later: Jehoiachin was taken to exile in Babylon while the victorious King Nebuchadnezzar chose his uncle, Zedekiah, to replace him (1). It is not surprising, therefore, that Zedekiah sought out Jeremiah for prayers and solace. This prophet, however, had a habit of telling it like it is! He made it clear that there would be no mitigation of the national disaster, and any respite would be temporary.

Imprisonment and torture were part of a prophet’s occupational hazards, and Jeremiah had more than his fair share of both. An innocent trip to regulate some private business affair led to false accusation and incarceration in solitary confinement in the equivalent of a maximum-security prison. Fortunately, the king agreed that his appeal had merit and lightened his sentence, even though he did not have the moral courage to set free the innocent man of God.

Every country in the world needs a Jeremiah to bring God’s truth to bear on its governance, while eschewing political correctness. That was the role which William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr. played in their times. Mahatma Gandhi was another, even though he was not a Christian–which is a particular challenge to us who are commissioned as agents of the word of truth. While the cost for us may not be as high as it was for Jeremiah, the apostle Paul warns us there is always a price to pay (2 Tim. 3:12).

Apply

What areas of our national life today call for prophetic utterances and what should we be doing about them? What role can you play?

Closing prayer

Lord, I pray for those taking public stands on national issues. Give them discernment and courage. I pray for hearing ears among national leaders.

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