The Daily Word: Friday, October 15th, 2021
Jeremiah 26:1-27:22
2 Thessalonians 3:1-18
Psalm 85:1-13
Proverbs 25:16
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Commentary from Pastor Michael White:
Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you. As for me, here I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you. – Jer. 26:13-14
Jeremiah was going to get himself killed! God had given him a tough word to share with the people of Judah. God’s people needed to repent, or else they would be destroyed! And Jeremiah was the one God chose to deliver the message. “Speak to the cities of Judah…all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word,” God said (v 2). But the people didn’t like the message. They “seized” Jeremiah and told him, “You will surely die!” (v 8).
But when Jeremiah was in the most dangerous situation he had ever faced, on the brink of death, did he back down? Far from it. In fact, he pressed in all the more. As the people gathered to decide whether or not to kill him, he doubled down. He took advantage of his captive audience and told them to “obey the voice of the Lord” (v 13, above) again. Jeremiah didn’t care if he was killed! He only cared if God’s people heard God’s word.
When God gives you a tough word to preach, will you back down? Or will you press in all the more? We should never back down from the word God asks us to share, even if it means our death. At the end of your life, only one thing will matter: did you do what God asked you to do, and say what He told you to say?
Prayer:
Lord, help me to be like Jeremiah! I want to be completely obedient, in Jesus’ name. I will go where You tell me to go, and preach what You tell me to preach! Help me to never back down, and always to preach Your word with boldness and with faith.
© Michael D. White, 2021. All rights reserved.