May the mumbling commence!
Before we begin to think too highly of ourselves, let’s
have that reminder again. God often
finds faith outside the sheepfold of His children. Sometimes, it’s embarrassing how more
faithful those on the outside are than we are.
Read from Jeremiah chapter thirty-eight:
So these officials went to the king and said, "Sir, this
man must die! That kind of talk will
undermine the morale of the few
fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people, too. This man is
a traitor!"
So King Zedekiah agreed. "All right," he said. "Do as you
like. I will do nothing to stop
you."
So the officials took Jeremiah from his
cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard. It
belonged to Malkijah, a member of the royal family. There was no water in the
cistern, but there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank
down into it.
But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian,
an important palace official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that
time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate, so Ebed-melech rushed
from the palace to speak with him. "My lord
the king," he said, "these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern.
He will soon die of hunger, for almost
all the bread in the city is gone."
So the king told Ebed-melech, "Take along thirty of my men, and pull
Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies."
So Ebed-melech took the men with him and
went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags
and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to
Jeremiah on a rope. Ebed-melech called
down to Jeremiah, "Put these rags
under your armpits to protect you from the ropes." Then when Jeremiah
was ready, they pulled him out. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of
the guard – the palace prison – where he remained. (Verses 4-13)
Talk about a wishy-washy king! He went along with those who wanted Jeremiah
dead. Then he went along with the wishes
of Ebed-melech (the last part of this name means king in Hebrew).
And the wishes of Ebed-melech were more in line with the
will of the Lord. And Ebed-melech was an
Ethiopian! He was outside the flock of
the Great Shepherd at that time. But he
listened to the Word of the Lord much better than the people of Judah.
Ebed-melech stood up against the popular opinion of the
people of Judah to spare the life of God’s prophet. Though the people of Judah may have looked at
him like a worthless rag, this worthless rag saved Jeremiah from certain
starvation – like the rags that were put under the armpits of Jeremiah as he
was pulled from the cistern.
If Ebed-melech was a lost sheep, he was one well worthy of
searching for. Yes, God is always
looking for His sheep, who often wander away and get themselves in mortal
danger. Read from Matthew chapter
eighteen:
"If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and
one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to
search for the lost one? And if he finds
it, he will surely rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't
wander away! In the same way, it is not
my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish.” (Verses 12-14)
That none shall perish!
Let that be our goal.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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