Jeremiah 38-41
In chap. 38 we see the LORD warning everyone, through Jeremiah, that if the people of Jerusalem just leave the city and give themselves up to the Babylonians, they would be spared. However, if they remained in the city, they would eventually be killed and the city would be burned down. Of course nobody likes what Jeremiah is saying, and King Zedekiah doesn’t try to stop his officials when they come to him for permission to try and kill Jeremiah. When Jeremiah is spared, King Zedekiah summons and questions him again -maybe hoping his prophesy would change?! Of course Jeremiah repeats the prophesy and King Zedekiah still hates what he says because it’s the same thing: the city will fall and only those who surrender to the invading army will be spared.
Eventually we see in chap 39 that the prophecy comes true and Zedekiah was captured, the city of Jerusalem was burned with fire, and Zedekiah’s sons and nobles slaughtered before him. Then Zedekiah’s own eyes were taken out and he was imprisoned.
We can easily judge Zedekiah and say that he was prideful, stupid and stubborn for not choosing life over death. But think of what Zedekiah had to give up. He would have to give up his highly regarded position as king, lose his honor and power, look weak and cowardly, and lose all his royal possessions! The fear of surrendering was too great and he just couldn’t overcome it to follow the LORD’s commands. Instead Zedekiah chose not to listen and hold on to what he thought he could – his status of being king and everything that came along with it. But it would eventually lead to him losing everything disastrously.
How often do we let our pride and fear keep us from God’s blessings? For some reason the story of Zedekiah reminded me of the time when I was wavering back and forth as to whether or not I should accept Christ. Surrendering to Christ was one of the most frightful and scariest things I had to do. I thought my life was MINE, that I was in charge of my own life, and to surrender to Christ meant I had to answer to God and admit I was a sinner. So I was asked, “what are you holding onto that must be let go for you to have eternal life?” For about six months I refused to accept Christ because of the fear of giving up the things I thought I was in control of, and the fear of being seen by others as “one of those Christians”. Thankfully, I could no longer hold onto what I thought was important, or be paralyzed by fear, and God showed me just how much more I would gain by knowing Him!
Yes, I still have control and fear issues creep up – haha 
. But thank God for His grace! And I thank God for reminding me through today’s reading that I need to keep striving to endure by Christ’s example – that I need to continue to to surrender and die to myself! I pray that we will all be living testimonies of Christ as we continue to obey His calling for us! Have a good week! Angie.