As Nebuchadnezzar’s armies surrounded Jerusalem and continued to take it apart, piece by piece, the Lord spoke to the people of Judah through the prophet Jeremiah, warning them not to resist His judgment. He assured them that He would be with them throughout their Babylonian exile, and would be their protection. But God’s message was not believed, and the life of Jeremiah, God’s messenger, was in peril.
Jeremiah had told everyone:
2 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.’ 3 And this is what the Lord says: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”
4 Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”
5 “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”
6 So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. Jeremiah 38:2-6 (NIV)
At this point, faithful Jeremiah was in a position of utter powerlessness. His life and its preservation were totally in God’s hands. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it, but to pray.
Have you ever found yourself in such a position? Many of us have. It may be in a time of grief, after receiving a bad medical report, being in the midst of a troubling circumstance, in an out-of-control addiction, or a place of deep depression. The situation around us can turn into one far beyond any power we have on our own to control, change, or escape it. We have become totally dependent upon outside help to deliver us.
It is during these times of shock and despair that many of us realize how truly dependent we are upon the grace and mercy of God. He is our only hope of survival, and to make it through our crisis to a better day.
Just like for us, God would save Jeremiah out of his crisis. But He would not reach down Himself to pull Jeremiah out of the mire. Instead, about the time Jeremiah must have come close to giving up, struggling in his hunger and thirst, preparing himself to suffer a rejected and forgotten death, God sent him a savior. Someone who would step out of his own comfort zone to take a significant risk in order to save Jeremiah from certain death.
An Ethiopian named Ebed-Melek, who was serving in the king’s palace, heard about Jeremiah’s fate and desperate situation at the bottom of the cistern. Feeling compassion in his heart, he approached King Zedekiah, who was attending to government affairs, and condemned the evil act the officials had done, and pleaded for Jeremiah’s life.
Ebed-Melek must have known that the king had given his approval to those officials to do whatever they wished to Jeremiah. And there was a strong possibility that the king would respond to his plea by instructing them to throw Ebed-Melek into the cistern, as well. But God granted Ebed-Melek favor for his brave and faithful action to save the prophet. The king agreed with his plea and sent thirty officials with him to pull Jeremiah out of the well, saving his life.
Six centuries later, another Ethiopian official would become the very first recorded person in the Bible, after Pentecost, to hear the good news of the gospel from a traveling missionary, and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded in Acts chapter 8. The missionary, the disciple Phillip, was specifically sent by the Lord to meet this Ethiopian official, who was riding home in a chariot on a remote road after worshiping in Jerusalem. Was this special blessing perhaps due to the faithful action of that Ethiopian man who had come forward to save the prophet Jeremiah, many hundreds of years earlier? It might be the case, as God’s blessings and favor are not limited by time or space. As one saved, another was saved in return, and carried the good news of the kingdom to his land and fellow people. Who knows what is in the mind of God?
Reflection
Do any situations surround you today that you feel totally powerless over?
Lord, I acknowledge my utter dependance upon You and Your grace, mercy, and love for me. I lift to You the difficulties before me and ask for your favor, deliverance, and guidance. Show me what I or my loved ones must do to survive and to come through our trials to a brighter day. Thank You for all that You do and have done for me. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Have a beautiful, blessed day in the Lord’s favor today.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 