| |
God has a message and it will be delivered. It may not come the way we expected. It may not come at the time we thought it would. It may even come from someone unexpected. But the truth is, the message will come and it will be accomplished. God’s Message will not return void.
Consider for a moment the opening passage of this chapter.
“The LORD told me to go to the palace of the king of Judah, the descendant of David, and there tell the king, his officials, and the people of Jerusalem to listen to what the LORD had said…”
Jeremiah 22:1 GNB
The hated prophet, Jeremiah, was given palace access. Would it be easy for one of us to waltz into the White House and deliver a message to the President? Furthermore, would he even listen to us? From a leadership perspective, the king was out of touch with reality. It’s safe to say that his advisors had ulterior motives. I’m sure the king didn’t want to ruffle any feathers and most likely said what the people wanted to hear most times. And, as we know, the people wanted their sin.
So, Jeremiah is told to go to the palace and speak a bold message of truth. Like Moses before him who approached Pharoah, it would have been easy to say, “I can’t do this.”
“I’m not qualified, He won’t listen.”
The excuses are many. But again, God had a message. His deliverance of that message would lead Jeremiah past all the checkpoints in order to get face to face with this king. Through God’s sovereign hand, He was faithful to deliver Jeremiah to the exact place that He desired.
This is not uncommon. I’ve already written of Moses and Pharoah. Consider John the Baptist before Herod. Consider Jesus before Pontius Pilate. Consider Paul before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. There was a message in all these instances and yes, that message fell on deaf ears. So what’s the point?
Faithfulness.
He was faithful to deliver both the message and the messenger according to His glory. What does this mean for us?
There are probably many things Jesus is speaking to each of us right now. Some are simple and others are more difficult. A few of them may seem impossible. The truth is, we must not lose sight of those who have gone before us and been led to accomplish God’s plan by stepping out in faith. It’s overwhelming to think of accomplishing anything God asks by relying on our own strength.
This was the key for each of the people I’ve described. They walked on the strength of the Lord. They met God where He was calling them and He delivered them to victory. Not victory according to man’s standard but victory according to the Kingdom of Heaven. Will you do the same?