Today is the day!
The Lord had been telling Judah to submit to Babylon and seek its peace. Jerusalem's downfall was imminent, and the best course of action was not to continue fighting against the Babylonians. Yet the people remained defiant. They could not see that submission to Babylon was part of God's plan for them in this season of judgment.
"then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, "Is there any word from the LORD?" And Jeremiah said, "There is." Then he said, "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!"" Jeremiah 37:17
Notice that word: "secretly"!
Zedekiah wanted to hear from the Lord, but he seemed unwilling to publicly stand upon what the Lord had spoken. He feared the consequences of surrender and the response of those around him. Rather than obeying the word given through Jeremiah, he continued down a path of resistance.
We see this fear even more clearly in Jeremiah 38, where Zedekiah fails to heed Jeremiah's warning. Jerusalem is destroyed, his sons are killed before his eyes, he is blinded, and he is carried away captive to Babylon.
How devastating to seek a word from the Lord, hear it, and then allow fear to keep you from walking in obedience!
Today is the day!
Today is the day to let go of your fears and honor the Lord's Word in your life. Don't allow the fear of man to keep you from walking in obedience to the One who has called you!
We may not be called to surrender to another nation, but we may very well be called to surrender our own will. To lay down our fears and our expectations of how things should unfold. Will we trust Him enough to obey, even when His direction is contrary to what we desire or what others expect of us?
Come on! Let's be steadfast in our pursuit of the Lord, sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading, and resilient in the face of opposition to His will for our lives.
-To Know Jesus. To Live on Mission.