Looking for a Fix

December 19, 2016

 Jeremiah 21

Something like this may have happened in your life experiences, and if it has I will enjoy hearing how you reacted?  The something is a person who may or may not be kin to you, they may have been a person you went to school with or worked with, but it has been years since they called, sent a note, or you have had any contact with them.  But you get the call that they want to spend the weekend; they want to catch-up on your life after all this time. 

It does not take long before you realize they are not looking for a reunion, but they do have a reason for the visit and it’s not about renewing a relationship, it’s about wanting a favor, a big favor!  Life has not been kind to them, but it is clear that they were informed about your success, and they are asking for you to fund them.  You have not looked past the car they are driving, it is very new, yours is 13 years old, but it still runs and you have no payment.  Your dear, dear lost friends share that if you do not help the bank is going to repo it, and they are also three months behind on their 4,000 sq. ft. house, but if you could just find it in your heart to help, they could save both house and car.

Now the close coming from your friend is; you have always been there for your buddies, and because of your goodness and kindness your name came into their mind.  We believe God told us that you would be the answer to this small problem because of your generosity.  I made up the story, but that is the attitude of many who when they are in trouble run to God, not out of love but needing a fix. 

That is the story of King Zedekiah as we look at his request for Jeremiah to intercede for Judah.  If you want background on Zedekiah, look at 2 Kings 24:17-20, but verse 19 gives us a picture of who Zedekiah was; “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.”  He had the gall, the disrespect for a Holy God to ask Him to show kindness only when judgment had come to his throne.

The story has three messages, first to the king of Judah, next to the people of Jerusalem, and last to the house of the king of Judah.  How King Zedekiah was put over the kingdom by the king of Babylon and how he has run to Egypt’s Pharaoh to be his protector against Nebuchadnezzar.  He had not only rebelled against God, but he was rebelling against the one who had made him king. 

I’m sure that your dear, dear friend who came only for money may be shocked at your reply to his request, as was the three groups mentioned were of God’s response.

“Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath. And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. Afterward, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’

“And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. “And to the house of the king of Judah say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O house of David! Thus says the Lord: “‘Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of your evil deeds.’”

“Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, declares the Lord; you who say, ‘Who shall come down against us, or who shall enter our habitations?’  I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the Lord; I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice