Jeremiah 37:20

New International Version (NIV)

“Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary or I will die there.”

For meditation

The prophet was no coward. He spoke the word of God to a disobedient and obstinate people, at a time when the wrath of God was imminent upon the nation. Nothing palatable could be expected from Jeremiah; not because he desired it that way, but because it was the word of God. The people hated him for his integrity and forthrightness, especially, the false prophets who gave contrary messages for political expediency. Yet, Jeremiah would have none of that. He remained resolute and faithful in the face of threats and intimidation.

“This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down” (Jer. 37:9-10).

I wonder if anyone would have friends in this world now with such a doomsday message from God. Nonetheless, Jeremiah ploughed on as he heard from God. He was taken into custody on a false charge of “deserting to the Babylonians,” beaten and locked up in “a vaulted cell in a dungeon” (14-16).

One would have thought that Jeremiah would relent and speak some ‘soft words’ to Zedekiah when the king sent for him and questioned him (17).

“Is there any word from the Lord?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.”

Jeremiah was steadfast in the face of death, yet he revealed his vulnerable human side, as he faced the prospect of death in the dungeon.

“But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary or I will die there” (20).

1. Are we all not vulnerable in this terrible world that stands against anything godly?
2. Can any child of God “who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus,” be a friend and toast of this wicked and corrupted world (2 Tim 3:12)?
3. Why do you think many so-called “men and women of God” are preaching what the itching ears of the people want to hear (4:3)?
4. Where are the Jeremiahs? Where are the true messengers of God who will steadfastly stand to proclaim the unadulterated word of God to a hostile world?
5. Why should our vulnerability take away our integrity when the honor of our Savior and Lord is at stake?

I pray we remember that the human side of Jesus revealed its vulnerability in the Garden of Gethsemane, and yet, He steadfastly stood against the flesh and went to the cross.

So: May you never cower in the face of persecution and injustice, but faithfully take up your cross and follow Jesus daily (Lk. 9:23); and may He, who is able to empathize with your weaknesses, give you grace to sustain you in your vulnerable moments for His name’s sake (Heb. 4:15-16).

Shalom