Ebed Melech

Ebed- Melech

Jeremiah 38:2 "Thus says the LORD, 'He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as booty and stay alive.' 3"Thus says the LORD, 'This city will certainly be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.'"

People love to listen to cozy and comfy stuff but they rebel against commandments, rules and instructions, are you listening? If somebody is giving some juicy prophecy, there is traffic jam there – fake or con men doesn’t matter – all people want is something cool; Jeremiah was facing much the same situation in the above scripture when he preached the truth (though unpopular) to the people to surrender to the Chaldeans and submit to their mercy because if they disobey and stay in the city, then the city will be burnt and they will be destroyed; however, none believed nor did they obey the word of God that came through Jeremiah.

All God wanted from His people is to TRUST Him but none had an iota of trust in their God. Did you know anxiety hampers faith but trust boosts faith? When I walked into an Officer’s room in the year 2011 with my big file with all relevant documents for the running of our Abide School, I was filled with angst, fear, confusion and worry: “How would I handle this educational institution with no prior experience? How will I go about this? – a million questions hammered my mind. Well, as I went through the grind, day in and day out with fasting and prayer , visiting the officials, various desks and a lot of running around – now, calmness and peace has come over me! Hurray! I don’t have to fret and fume, I don’t have to get frustrated and discouraged – God would bring it through! He did, we received Government recognition in the year 2015 in the whole district. Amen. You will be unique when you trust God! The Bible says, Isaiah 26:4”Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” Wow!

While the whole city despised prophet Jeremiah and thought he was preaching discouraging news to the people at a time when they needed encouragement, so they threw him into a hole without water but one man believed the news that was preached by Jeremiah, his name was Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's palace. Let me take digression here and speak to you personally:

God would organize somebody who would take notice of your situation and come forward to help you, no need of business cards, social media requests, frantic phone calls.......NOTHING....your DIVINE ENCOUNTER would come searching for you, that would take place suddenly and would come on time. This is prophetic for someone out there...

Ebed Melech boldly approached king Zedekiah and told him about the plight of Jeremiah and also said that if he is not saved now he would die of hunger and danger. Zedekiah immediately said "Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies." Did you hear that, 30 men from Ebed-Melech team (who are under your authority the king said) , wow, when God starts moving, He takes cares of every small detail - relax. Jeremiah is finally saved and kept safe in the court itself, God is your hiding place. The story is not over, when finally the city was captured by the enemies, God remembered Ebed-melech, He said: "For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me," declares the Lord. What floored God about Ebed-Melech is his trust in Him and the fact that he acknowledged the Word of God preached by Jeremiah and respected him despite the whole city loathing and despising Jeremiah! Amen.

Learn to discern the voice of God that comes through a servant of God and obey; no fun being mere hearers of the Word like king Zedekiah who heard the Word of God through Jeremiah, liked him too, took care of him too; however, he failed to trust God. Great danger when you fail to trust God in the midst of chaos.

TRUST IN HIM:

Isaiah 26:3”You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

About the unusual blunders that Viswanathan Anand committed during the World Chess championship, Magnus Carlsen said: “It really has to do with being put under pressure. And really, that’s all that I wanted to do in this match.” The otherwise cool Anand, lost his peace and the match because he failed to remain calm and composed! Yep, stress and pressure destroys peace!