Corona Devo 1775
The Prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned in an empty cistern.
Cistern: an artificial reservoir, such as an underground tank, for storing liquids and especially water, such as rainwater. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
But it wasn't quite an empty cistern...there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it (Jeremiah 38:6).
Jeremiah was literally at the bottom of a well sitting in sludge.
Are we feeling the same today?
Jeremiah did no wrong. He was living for God.
And yet, he still found himself imprisoned in a disgusting and depressing situation: somewhere he didn't want to be.
Where are we (physically/emotionally/ spiritually/mentally) today? Are we disgusted? Are we depressed? Are we sitting in sludge? Have we sank down into it?
So the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard. It belonged to Malkijah, a member of the royal family. There was no water in the cistern, but there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it. ~Jeremiah 38:6
Are we stuck somewhere that we don't want to be?
Have hope. And keep the faith today.
It is no coincidence today that God uses the Bible to share an account of one of his people being stranded...and rescued.
That's called hope...when we realize that we can be rescued from the pit in which we feel placed...from the cistern in which we sit.
We can have hope today. God is here with us today.
God is speaking hope to us through His Word today.
For Jeremiah...God used Ebed-melech (the Ethiopian) to bring this hope and rescue. Ebed was a good guy. Ebed comes to Jeremiah's rescue, first as an advocate for Jeremiah to King Zedekiah (in pleading for Jeremiah's life to the king), and then Ebed physically rescues Jeremiah from the depths of the cistern.
God comes to Jeremiah's rescue and He uses Ebed to carry it out.
But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important court official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate, (8) so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him. (9) “My lord the king,” he said, “these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone.”
(10) So the king told Ebed-melech, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.” ~Jeremiah 38:7-9
At His discretion, God uses people to do His good. God will use people in our lives. And we should be open to God using us in the lives of others.
Are we sitting at the bottom of a slimy pit today?
Jeremiah's example reminds us that we can have hope in our Lord today. \
God sees us when we are stuck in a cistern. And we can have hope because of our Lord and His Word.
But beyond hope, and even rescue...the detail that blew me away from Jeremiah's cistern story was the empathy and care that God incorporated into Jeremiah's rescue.
Our God cares about us.
Before hauling Jeremiah up...Ebed first acquires rags so that there is comfort for Jeremiah in the process, as he is being lifted to safety from the bottom of the cistern. Comfort. Look at the lengths that God will go to...to meet us in the pit...and in pulling us out.
Even if we are sitting in the sludge today--look at the tenderness in which God assesses our situations and coordinates rescue...and even comfort in our being-relieved of them.
But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important court official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate, (8) so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him. (9) “My lord the king,” he said, “these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone.”
(10) So the king told Ebed-melech, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”
(11) So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope.
(12) Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes.” Then when Jeremiah was ready, (13) they pulled him out. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of the guard—the palace prison—where he remained. ~Jeremiah 38:7-13
~~~
Have we sank down into it?
We can have hope today, and we can keep the faith today.
We have a God Who comes to our rescue and Who cares for us!
God is speaking hope to us through His Word today, and He goes to great lengths to comfort us in our hard places.
May we encounter or be(!) an Ebed-melech today, and may we feel the nurturing-nuances or the empathizing-efforts of our Heavenly Father today.
He sees us when we are in the cisterns of life, and He reaches down and provides comfort and hope and rescue.
He saw us when we were in the cistern of sin, and He reached down and provided His Son as our hope and our rescue. We were stranded in our sin, but God rescued us with care.
We will never experience full recovery/freedom/comfort here on earth, but one day in Heaven we will enjoy the eternal rescue that Christ died to provide for us.
Until then, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes” (Jeremiah 38:12).
sarah
https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com
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