Easy Way or Hard Way
Our rain continued today in greater amounts than yesterday. It looks like it will be clearing over the next two days. I had my morning LEAP conference call and then a joint lunch meeting with the Loveland andĀ Berthoud Chambers of Commerce. Some interesting information on proposed changes to employment classifications. Later this afternoon I had my fitness workout. I took my mom with me so she could see some of my regimen.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, āThis is what the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: āIf you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be saved. Jerusalem will not be burned down, and you and your family will live. But if you refuse to surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, Jerusalem will be handed over to the Babylonian army, and they will burn it down. And you yourself will not escape from them.āā Jeremiah 38:17,18 NCV
I sure you have heard the saying, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way!” I’m not sure of the origin of that statement, but it certainly applied to what the Lord was trying to communicate to Judah and its rulers.
Thousands of Jews had already been taken captive by Babylon. Judah was under the control of Babylon, but soon rebelled against them. All of this was from the hand of God who was using an ungodly nation to punish His people for their ungodly acts. Yet in the midst of coming Judgment the Lord was using His prophet Jeremiah to let them know that the Lord would one day restore people to the land and that prosperity would one day be restored.
The Lord said, “I will bring health and healing to the people there. I will heal them and let them enjoy great peace and safety. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and make them strong countries as in the past.” Ā (Jeremiah 33:6,7 NCV)
All of this would happen after their time of captivity. The captivity was decided in God’s mind and would happen. So Jeremiah’s message to the King and people was to surrender to the Babylonians. That message was not well received! Jeremiah’s life was threatened, he was placed in prison, put in an empty well, and faced continual persecution for his words. He was viewed as a traitor, his words were viewed as a discouragement to the people and the army. King Zedekiah looked to Egypt for help; but that didn’t work.
King Zedekiah, whether in pride or fear of the people or fear of the Babylonians hung onto his position to defend a city doomed for destruction. In the end instead of Zedekiah and his family being saved, his sons were killed before him and then his eyes were gouged out. The last visual memory for him would be the consequences of failing to heed the instructions of the Lord.
We see alongside the words of coming judgment the promise of restoration, we read,
“The Lord says, āThe time is coming when I will do the good thing I promised to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time, I will make a good branch sprout from Davidās family. He will do what is fair and right in the land. At that time Judah will be saved, and the people of Jerusalem will live in safety. The branch will be named: The Lord Does What Is Right.ā (Jeremiah 33:14-16 NCV)
We need to remember, “the Lord does what is right.” We don’t always understand what the Lord is doing, what He allows and why things are the way they are. There are times the Lord tries to get our attention and we ignore His word. If it doesn’t make sense to us, if it is the opposite of what we believe we should do, it is easy to dismiss it.Ā Solomon observed, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (Prov.. 14:12 NIV)
We see that Pharaoh hardened his heart to the point that the land of Egypt laid in ruin and his was oblivious to what was happening. His pride and hard heart blinded him to the reality that was before him and he refused to accept the inevitable.
Solomon cautioned, “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.”Ā (Prov. 32:9 NIV) David in his prayer of repentance prayed, “…grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalm 51:12 NIV)
The Lord’s ways will prevail. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.“ (Proverbs 19:21 NIV) We need to have the confidence that His plans for us are “good.” That He knows the beginning from the end and that if we yield our lives to Him, we will find our way through the forest of difficulties and confusion and come out offering our praise to God. Jeremiah told God’s people of a coming day where…
“There will be sounds of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of brides and bridegrooms. There will be the sounds of people bringing to the Temple of the Lord their offerings of thanks to the Lord. They will say, āPraise the Lord All-Powerful, because the Lord is good! His love continues forever!ā (Jeremiah 33:11 NCV)
We need to remember, the Lord’s ways are the “easy way” and our ways are the “hard way.”Ā Whose way will you choose?