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Jeremiah 38:17 – Surrender To God’s Grace
Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was lead away into exile from its land (Jeremiah 52:27)
Exile and death; family and friends separated by the decisions of others. The parting might have been through exile into another nation. Those were the lucky ones. The severance might have been permanent – decisions of life and death in the hands of others.
Husbands, wives, and children, all influenced by the decisions of others, whether the king of Babylon or their own king – Zedekiah. You see, the Judean king was offered grace, by both the Babylonian king, but more importantly by the universal king – Yahweh.
Through Jeremiah God offered to Zedekiah freedom if he simply surrendered – “If you will indeed go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and you household will survive. But if you will not go out… (Jeremiah 38:17).
Well, we saw the results.
Surrendering is never easy. It is contrary to everything we are and want – we want control, we want to decide our future, we want to win, we want, we want, we want….And that is the irony. But by not surrendering to God, because we want to remain in control, we loose control. By wanting to win, we loose.
But there is a further lesson. By refusing to surrender to God, we adversely touch the lives of others as well. Husbands, wives, children…all disturbingly altered by the decisions we make.
So receive God’s grace…. Surrender to God! And you and others will win.
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