(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)
“When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, then Zedekiah the king sent and had him brought out. The king asked him secretly in his house, “Is there any word from Yahweh?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” He also said, “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land’? Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.” Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.’”
(Jeremiah 37:16-21)
“ What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets— who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
(Hebrews 11:32-38)
Jeremiah had given the message God had for the people. The people didn’t like it. Jeremiah was trying to go about his life and take care of business. They thought he was running away and imprisoned him. When they were being besieged, the king brought Jeremiah before him and asked for a good message. Jeremiah stuck to what the Lord had said. Same message. None of the people in the city wanted judgment. They wanted escape. They wanted rescue. But they had not trusted in God. They had not believed His word. They had broken covenant with Him. They had not taken His offered escape route (exile). Judgment was coming. Jeremiah believed. Jeremiah trusted God. Jeremiah refused to change the message to suit the people or get an advantage for himself. But God made sure he had the opportunity to improve his situation and got him to where he was getting daily bread in a city under siege. Jeremiah trusted, was in difficult circumstances, but got his needs met.
Throughout scripture there are those who believed and trusted God: Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, etc. They did not always get what was promised to the whole nation. Abraham never lived to see the Land possessed by his family. David never lived to see Messiah some. Moses never got to walk in the Land. But all of them held to the promises. None of them stopped trusting. Because it wasn’t about the end result, it was about whether or not God could be trusted. And they KNEW He could be. It WAS going to happen. Their part was to keep believing and keep trusting. In the meantime, their needs were met. They got victory after victory. They experienced extraordinary lives. Because they were looking to the Lord, not to their own strength or their own thinking. They believed and they trusted and their needs were met. AND in time, the promises came to pass. Every single one.
Summary
Our lives are not supposed to be about what ends up in our hands. Our lives are about our belief in the Lord and our trust in Him and His ability to provide what He says He can provide. We are spiritual first people. That’s how we succeed. We are not promised easy street. We are promised provision. We are promised prosperity that begins in our hearts and in our relationship with the Lord. It isn’t possession-based. It is heart-based. Yes, we can have things. But the things aren’t the goal. Getting a Land that could become the home of the nation wasn’t the goal with the Israelites. Having and keeping a covenant relationship with the Lord was the goal. When they kept it, they got a Land. When they broke it, they lost the Land. Whether we have blessings or not in our lives (no matter the scale or volume) is based on whether or not He is our source. Whether or not we are humbly submitting to Him and obeying Him. Whether or not we are keeping our eyes on Him and listening to Him. Believe Him. Trust Him. That’s the basis of abundant life. It doesn’t matter what abundance looks like, because it’s different for all of us. But it starts and is founded on our relationship with the Lord.
Leave a Reply