A Message that is not received

Jeremiah 37:1-10

Have you experienced what seems to be good news at first glance, but may not turn out that way?  I recall a time in my career when my new boss and his boss called me in and were telling me what a great job I was doing.  In fact, they were going to give me a new assignment; it was to be over the industrial business in Texas and Louisiana.  First, I found out the job came with no pay increase, I had little or no authority and yet was given a new quote of what they expected.  At first glance it looked good, but the more the onion got pealed back it seemed like the job from hell, and I thanked them for thinking of me but told them it was not a job I desired.  There was only one problem, they did not care what I preferred and made it very clear to me this was my new assignment.  I had that winless job for three horrible years before my friend and soon to be new boss rescued me.

The new King of Judah, Zedekiah has a problem, and he sent Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah with this request: “Please pray to the LORD our God for us.”  Now Jeremiah is going about whatever a prophet does each day, and this is before he's put into prison, and the LORD speaks to him, and it is important to understand that Judah is looking to Pharaoh’s army and not to God.  The military of Egypt had left Egypt and was coming to Jerusalem to engage the Chaldeans who had laid siege to Jerusalem, so the Chaldeans withdrew once they got wind of this.  That was a smart move you do not want to get caught between two armies, that never turns out well.  Now that seemed to be great news until they learned that Egypt’s army went back home, and the Chaldeans returned.

So let us pick up the story in verses 6-10. “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: This is what you will say to Judah’s king, who is sending you to inquire of Me: Watch: Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, is going to return to its own land of Egypt. The Chaldeans will then return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it down. This is what the Lord says: Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will leave us for good,’ for they will not leave. Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire Chaldean army that is fighting with you, and there remained among them only the badly wounded men, each in his tent, they would get up and burn this city down.”

What happens when the King or your boss gets a message that is not to their liking?  A wise manager or King will listen, and respond by doing what is needed, but that is not what we find in Jeremiah’s account or mine above.  We will find out tomorrow that King Zedekiah’s solution was to imprison God’s messenger, and my boss did the same thing by not using my skills in a manner that worked.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice