Day 238

Imprisoned for Faithfulness

Read: Jeremiah 36-38

Many people have been imprisoned because of their faithfulness to God. Some examples are John the Baptist, the apostle Paul, and John Bunyan. Jeremiah suffered a similar fate.

Under house arrest, Jeremiah was commanded by God to write in a book all of his prophecies. Baruch, his secretary, read the book to the princes, who in turn told the king about it. King Jehoiakim had one of his underlings read it to him, and as he did, the king took the pages which had been read, cut them up with a knife and threw them into the fire. Jeremiah was ordered by God to rewrite the book with further additions.

While trying to leave Jerusalem, Jeremiah was thrown in prison, accused of deserting to the enemy. The king had him moved to the court of the guard. Later, however, he was thrown into a cistern where he lay in the mud. An Ethiopian eunuch, a black man, showed him kindness by having him pulled out of this pit and placed back in the court of the guard where he remained until the fall of Jerusalem. There the king conferred with him secretly and once again Jeremiah urged him to surrender to the king of Babylon, which in this case was the will of God. If he didn’t, he and his family would be captured and the city would be burned.

God calls upon us to be faithful to him, whatever the cost. In our culture that cost may be more subtle.

PRAYER
Father, we pray for all those who are being persecuted for their faithfulness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.