In this chapter King Zedekiah enquires of Jeremiah if the Lord will help them against the Babylonians who are besieging Judah. God speaks through Jeremiah saying their two options are to die, or surrender into captivity.
” ‘And to this people you shall say: “Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.” ‘ ” (v8-10)
It seems God gives us a similar option today: continue living in our sin and stubbornness so we eventually die a spiritual death, or surrender our hearts to Him and our spirit shall live into eternity.
Of course even if we repent of our sin and receive eternal life through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we will still sin from time to time. Yet, we can rest assured that Jesus’ redeeming blood that covers all of our sin, including those we have yet to commit, and God chooses to forget our sin once it has been forgiven.
If we have never made a conscious decision to repent of our sin and surrender to Jesus as King, or we feel led to humble ourselves again today, then let’s do that. We can ask God for forgiveness and softer hearts to serve Him into eternity.
Father God, our Gracious and Merciful Lord, we humbly fall at Your feet today. We confess that we have sinned against You and our neighbors. We praise You King Jesus for dying on the cross for our sin, and defeating spiritual death through Your resurrection. We invite Your healing and refining work into our hearts, so we may humbly serve You for our remaining days. May we honor and glorify You Father with every word and action, as directed by Your indwelling Holy Spirit, so we may testify of Your greatness to our neighbors. All praise, glory and honor be unto You, O Lord God Almighty, Creator of All. Amen.
~ Conqueror in Training