Daily Devotions
August 14th, 2009 by Pastor SolleyJer 42:1-7
42:1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
3 That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.
7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.I am impressed by the character and heart of Jeremiah. Here was a prophet, a man of God, a Christian who only wanted to serve his God and proclaim His Word. What did it get him? Cast into prison more than once, his life put in danger, cast into a well to drown, many persecutions, hated by the people, and much more. Jeremiah went through a great deal in this world.
Yet when the people come and ask Jeremiah to pray for them what does he do? He doesn’t turn away from them, does not rebuke them, does not do what many of us would do, does not do what his flesh would lead him to do. Jeremiah prays for the people before God. Jeremiah had a heart for God, a burden for the people and Jeremiah was a man of character. Are we? Do we have a heart for God and a burden for the lost? Do we have character? In this day when the world and our nation has turned away from God, has turned against the Christian we need to have a heart for God, we need to have a burden, we need to be people of character.