Too Obvious to Ignore (Jeremiah 40)

Sometimes the hand of God in a situation is so powerful and so dramatic that even non-believers find it too obvious to ignore. Such is the case of Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard under King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

When the Babylonian army completely destroyed the city of Jerusalem and carried out all but the very weakest and poorest of its citizens as captives, Nebuzaradan found the prophet Jeremiah shackled with all of the rest of the captives headed for Babylon. He freed Jeremiah and then made a profound statement:

“The Lord your God decreed this disaster for this place. And now the Lord has brought it about; He has done just as He said He would. All this happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey Him.” (Jeremiah 40:2-3)

Isn’t that interesting? No chest thumping or fist bumping about Babylon’s superior army and domination, just a realization that Israel’s God had allowed this to happen and it was because of their own unrepentant sin. God had made Himself known to this man.

Do you know what? Non-believers really should be able to see the hand of God working in our lives as well. Hopefully not because we are so full of pride that we refuse to repent of our sin for so long that God has to punish us. Rather, they should be able to see the Holy Spirit working through us in remarkable ways so obvious that they can’t possibly ignore it.

When people saw the Holy Spirit working through Peter and John in the book of Acts, they noticed that they were unschooled, ordinary men, but were astounded at what they were seeing. “They took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

If we are doing the Christian life right, people should be taking note that we have been with Jesus.

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Reading Plan- Week Thirty-Two

Day One- Jeremiah 39
Day Two- Jeremiah 40
Day Three- Jeremiah 41
Day Four- Jeremiah 42
Day Five- Jeremiah 43