DCLM Daily Manna 2023: DCLM Daily Manna 16 December 2023: Be Fearless
KEY VERSE: “For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.” (Jeremiah 21:10)
TEXT: Jeremiah 21:1-14
The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
2 Enquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
4 Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward, saith the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
10 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the Lord;
12 O house of David, thus saith the Lord; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the Lord; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
The quote, “Truth seldom is pleasant, it is almost invariably bitter” is credited to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, and an outspoken critic of communism, he helped raise global awareness of the political repression in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). He was later imprisoned in the Gulag system where many people died through forced labour. He was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970.
From our text, Jeremiah spoke boldly against Israel and her rulers. When King Zedekiah sent a delegation to him to pray for the deliverance and safety of Jerusalem from the invading army of Nebuchadnezzar, he told them plainly that the city cannot be saved. Israel will go into captivity because God was done with them. There was no remedy. The cup of their iniquity was full. The city of Jerusalem will be burnt together with the temple, as God Himself will fight against His people for their iniquities.
King Zedekiah and his counsellors, with the priests of the temple, had for a long time ignored Jeremiah’s prophecies. At other times, they persecuted him and had him punished for speaking the truth. They instead believed the false prophets who deceived them with their erroneous prophecies that they were safe; and that God had broken the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah’s prophecies proved true and now the Chaldeans laid siege to the city.
Truth is not just bitter, it is dangerous at times. And because many so-called prophets and pastors in our days fear how the people will respond to the truth, they decide to preach lies and deceive them with sweet messages. We must ask the Lord to give us the boldness and courage to speak the truth at all times. If we tell lies to save our necks, we are not His.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Only the truth can save
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Habakkuk 1-3
Thank you for studying today’s Daily Manna – Be Fearless – by Pastor W.F Kumuyi
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Daily Manna 15 December 2023
