Devotional Thoughts for Today
“Through Thick and Thin”
Jeremiah 37:11-21 (NASB)
Now it happened when the army of the Chaldeans had lifted the siege from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12 that Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to take possession of some property there among the people. 13 While he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah was there; and he arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are going over to the Chaldeans!” 14 But Jeremiah said, “A lie! I am not going over to the Chaldeans”; yet he would not listen to him. So Irijah arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 Then the officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him, and they put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which they had made into the prison. 16 For Jeremiah had come into the dungeon, that is, the vaulted cell; and Jeremiah stayed there many days.
17 Now King Zedekiah sent and took him out; and in his palace the king secretly asked him and said, “Is there a word from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon!” 18 Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “In what way have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 Where then are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’? 20 But now, please listen, O my lord the king; please let my petition come before you and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I may not die there.” 21 Then King Zedekiah gave commandment, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guardhouse and gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guardhouse.
We live in a world of ideas. Whether at school, work or church, one will most certainly encounter someone expressing their ideas, or express their own. However, one of the many critiques set against this age of ideas, is society’s growing inability to discuss ideas without becoming combative. Timothy Muehlhoff of Biola University once lamented how we now live in, what he calls, the “argument culture.” Interestingly enough, I don’t believe we’ve only recently entered the argument culture. Mankind has been fighting over ideas for quite some time, from current socio-political issues to biblical times. Sometimes debates over ideas has been civil, while others have not. In extreme cases, people have even experienced violence for expressing themselves. In fact, the further back in time one goes, the more violence over ideas one would expect to see. The prophet Jeremiah, for example, was imprisoned and beaten for faithfully expressing the Word of God.
In the passage above we see Jeremiah make his way to the land of Benjamin to claim property. When Jeremiah reaches the gate, the captain, Irijah, accuses Jeremiah of defecting to the Chaldeans. Several years prior to this, Jeremiah had been preaching the word he’d received from God, warning Israel of the coming destruction of the city (Jer. 21:9 [NASB]). Irijah probably concluded that Jeremiah’s message stood against the best interests of Benjamin. Because of this, despite Jeremiah’s denials, Jeremiah is arrested and imprisoned without trial. Pausing here in the narrative, I can’t help but wonder how often the message of the Gospel is deduced to be against the best interest of the people, especially here in California. The reality of the current cultural climate is sometimes troubling to reflect on. How often do I sweep my convictions aside, succumbing to social pressure? In Pastor Josh’s words, “How often do we [I] live as if God didn’t exist?” Do I have the strength to go to prison for the Gospel? Or to the grave?
As the passage progresses, things do not improve for Jeremiah. He is brought from the prison, in secret, before King Zedekiah and asked, “Is there a word from the LORD?” (Jer. 37:17 [NASB]). Now it’s obvious, Zedekiah isn’t asking for the actual word of God, rather, for some favorable news regarding the kingdom. Sometimes I ask myself what makes someone a hero. Generally, a hero is someone admired for their courage or accomplishments, or perhaps both. Unflinching, Jeremiah looks into the eyes of the king, and delivers God’s message exactly as revealed. “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon!” (Jer. 37:17 [NASB]). What makes someone a hero? Standing in the face of the authorities that threaten you with prison and death, and holding firm to God’s word. I hope we can all look to God for the strength to follow Jeremiah’s example. Let’s stand hand-in-hand together for God’s word, holding steadfast to the Truth, speaking it to the world in love.
Prayer: Father, it’s easy for me to be strong and stand up for you in church, around brothers and sisters in Christ and in my quiet time alone with You. It becomes much more complicated when I fear for my job, my freedom, my safety or even meaningless things, like social status. I pray You would remind Your church every day, that in You we find the resolve to stand up for the Truth. We need you more and more each day.
Bible Reading for Today: Job 33 (We apologize for the error on yesterday’s QT. The reading should have been Job 32. It has been corrected accordingly.)
Lunch Break Study
Read: 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;” (NASB)
Questions to Consider
- What did Paul’s “course” look like?
- What would “finishing the course” look like in today’s day and age?
- Reflect on this passage and consider what “finishing the course” would look like in your own life
Notes
- Paul went from high social status as a Pharisee, to (what the pagans considered) a persecuted “cult leader” as he traveled all over to spread the Gospel and plant churches. Like the rest of the apostles, Paul endured beatings, imprisonment, torture and ultimately death for the sake of Christ, all with complete confidence in his convictions and commitment to God. Paul, like Jeremiah and the others God has called for His work, sets a shining example for the church to follow.
- Though the difficulties we experience may take many forms, finishing the course in modern times may look much the same as the past: looking to God for the strength to stand beside brothers and sisters in Christ for the sake of the Gospel.
- Ultimately, I to serve full time in ministry. I’m not sure exactly how that will manifest, or where in the world my service will take me, so for now my answer is a bit generic: I simply hope I can faithfully serve God and His people, until my days are spent.
Evening Reflection
According to Kairos’ Pastor Peter, the most misquoted verse in the Bible may be Phil. 4:13. Time after time this verse is cited when we haven’t trained quite as hard as we should have for the upcoming Spartan race. However in the context of standing firm for the Gospel, Paul’s words are quite relevant. Reflect on the idea of finding strength to endure in God, and what that means for you.
In today’s passage, Jeremiah recounts how King Zedekiah would not listen to the word of God (v. 2). And it wasn’t until Judah was besieged that the king asked Jeremiah to pray to God on their behalf (v. 3). Essentially, only when Zedekiah’s back was against the wall did he turn to God. Christians are no different. We are constantly buffeted by the push and pull of our secular world; and, too often, the pressures can become so great that we ignore our convictions, effectively living as if God wasn’t here. It is only when all the chips are down, like Zedekiah, that we turn to Him in submission. Everyone and everything will (Rom. 11:36). But, we ought to look to God first, rather than waiting for calamity. I pray we ponder on this together daily, reminding one another of Whom we are committed to.
As a teenager
Today and tomorrow we will be talking about intercessory prayer. In order to understand intercessory prayer, we need to first understand who we are. To this end, I want to make a bold claim: we think too lowly of ourselves. I imagine many may react to this statement, thinking, Wait, I am prideful – I actually think too highly of myself. And that is probably true for many of us, including me. I am prideful. But, often our pride causes us to think highly of ourselves in the wrong way—meaning, we think highly of ourselves in comparison to others, according to earthly standards. Our pride leads us to think we are smarter, more athletic, better at our jobs than our co-workers, or better looking than our friends—all earthly things.
When I was a youth pastor, I led a team on a short-term mission trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. For two weeks we partnered with local churches and organizations and helped host several Vacation Bible Schools. One day the pastor we were working with requested our team to do a one-day VBS program for a group of 30 orphaned and abandoned children. When it was time for lunch, each of the children received a small Styrofoam box with rice and one piece of fried chicken—each boxed meal was less than 25 cents.
Upon seeing Serena William’s rage during the U.S. Open Finals, I got a glimpse of what I must look like when I have had those episodes—a huge difference being that William’s meltdown happened before the eyes of the world, while mine happened before my wife and kids. Like Serena, I typically felt that my anger (later rage) had a just cause. But, the Holy Spirit always has my ears, reminding me, first, “man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:20); and second, “now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror” (1 Cor. 13:12)—meaning, my anger was in part due to not seeing everything that truly happened. I chose to see only what I wanted to see, so that I could win over my wife and kids. Perhaps that also played a part in Serena’s implosion. But life doesn’t need to be lived out that way—”winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”—instead, we can place compassion and decency above winning, whether in marriage or playing tennis.
Who wants to be average, right? We all have an image of the ideal “me” that serves a template for all that we do. So, here is how an average guy stacks up against the ideal guy as they both start the day:
When I was 13 years old I went on my first short term mission trip to China and South Korea. Towards the end of our trip we visited a memorial for Reverend Son Yang-won. Rev. Son is remembered as a martyr of love who embraced the burden of colonial oppression and war. At his memorial, I saw a large painting of Rev. Son embracing the communist soldier who killed his two sons whom he later adopted. But the painting that really caught my attention was the one that showed Rev. Son removing blood from the infected wounds of lepers with his mouth. I had learned about leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, in Sunday school but it was my first time seeing how terrible the disease was. The paintings and the love of Christ that was practiced by Rev. Son would leave a lasting impression on my life.
The AMI QT Devotionals from September 9-15 are provided by Pastor David Yoon. David, a graduate of California Baptist University and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.), is serving at Tapestry LA Church as the college pastor.
Do you remember a time when we had to use a physical road map to find our way from one place to another? We would carry multiple foldout maps in our car’s glove compartment and could never fold it back the way it was when we purchased it. Today, with the advancement of technology, we use a navigation app on our smartphone or car’s GPS. When we miss or take a wrong turn the GPS notifies the driver, “recalculating” with an updated estimated time of arrival.