Grace in the Storm

As I continue to read through the Bible using a chronological reading plan in the Bible App, another verse stuck out and captured my attention. I believe it’s the Holy Spirit at work when this happens:

”Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.“ - Jeremiah 39:10 ESV

Wow….

Where we are in history

Jeremiah was a priest who God called as a young man, to be his mouthpiece during the reigns of the last kings of Judah – Josiah, Jehoiakim, and the last king of Zedekiah. Jeremiah warned the people of Jerusalem that God was not please with their idolatry and worshipping of other gods. He warned them what God would do if they continued and urged them to repent and return to Him. But they would not.

God’s instrument of choice was Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who invaded Jerusalem in 587 BC, took many Jews captive to Babylon, and burned the city.

In the midst of utter chaos, destruction and despair – we find God’s grace.

Nebuzaradan was captain the Nebuchadnezzar’s guard. He took captive the noble and wealthy of Jerusalem society, but left some of the poor people alone. The invaders even gave those who had likely never had anything, fields and vineyards so they could sustain themselves.

There is NOBODY like our God!

I recall the hard times in my life. In every one, I saw the grace of God in some way. As a teen when my parents separated. BUT GOD. My grades improved. I went from a mostly C student to an A & B student.

Getting unfairly fired from my job while working and going to school part-time to finish up my degree. My feelings were hurt and I cried. When I was fired, I had 6 classes left which going part-time meant that I had another full year of school. BUT GOD. Because I got fired and wasn’t working, I moved on the dorm and went full-time so I could take my remaining 6 classes, and I graduated a semester early. All while receiving $100/week in unemployment benefits which allowed me not to work and focus on school.

Time would not permit me to tell all of my personal testimonies of His grace in my storms. Since we’re gonna go through things in life, why not go through in relationship with the Jesus?

I kept reading and ran across this verse in the next chapter:

”Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you..” – Jeremiah 39:11-12 ESV

Serving God & Serving Others Pays Off

 God also provided for Jeremiah amidst the chaos of a siege and captivity. Nebuchadnezzar instructed his captain of the guard to look after Jeremiah and to do him no harm. God then instructs Jeremiah to speak words of comfort to an Ethiopian eunuch who had saved him from death after he was thrown into a cistern to die of starvation during a famine.

”So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud. When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate— Ebed-melech went from the king’s house and said to the king, “My Lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.” - Jeremiah 38:6-9 ESV

Ebed-Melech brought it to King Zedekiah what evil men had done to Jeremiah, leading to the king ordering his removal from the cistern. God reward Edeb-Melech for his service to His priest:

“Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. But I will deliver you on that day, declares the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.’” – Jeremiah 39:16-18 ESV