Pam Padgett ... teacher
When Nebuchadrezzar came up against Zedekiah, king of Judah, Zedekiah sent men to Jeremiah asking him to pray that God would cause Nebuchadrezzar to go from them.
Jeremiah 21:1 The word which came
unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the
son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 2
Enquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the Lord will deal with us
according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
However, king Zedekiah and the people had done wickedly, and the word of the Lord was that HE was against them ...
Jeremiah 21:3
Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: 4 Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of
war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of
Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls,
and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. 5 And I myself
will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm,
even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. 6 And I will smite the
inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great
pestilence. 7 And afterward, saith the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah
king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in
this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine,
into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of
their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he
shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them,
neither have pity, nor have mercy.
Although the anger of God was kindled against king Zedekiah and the people, HE provided a way of deliverance for the people ...
Jeremiah 21:8 And unto this people thou shalt
say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and
the way of death. 9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword,
and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and
falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life
shall be unto him for a prey. 10 For I have set my face against this
city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into
the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
They could choose the way of life God had provided for them, leaving the
city and being taken by their enemies the Chaldeans, and live. Or they could
choose the way of death, to remain in the city and die. To man it would seem safer
to stay in the city and fight. But this was not God's way of
deliverance for them in this situation. Only those who went in the way of life that God set forth would live.
While considering this, I thought of how we choose the way of life each time we go in the way we are led by the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes this is not the way we would choose for ourselves, but it is
the way of life, not death, for us and we find ourselves rejoicing later
for the way God has led us.
Even the way of salvation God has provided for us is not what our flesh would choose. The flesh wants to earn salvation, doing penance and fleshly "good works". But
the way of salvation God has set out for us is not according to our
works, but by grace through faith, the blood of Jesus Christ completely paying for our
sins ...
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in
mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might
shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man
should boast.
God's ways and thoughts are not the ways and thoughts of the natural man, and the ways of God are the ways of life ...
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he
will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.