Set Free by the Enemy

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Jeremiah 40:1-6

TO CHEW ON: "But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you; but if you do not want to, then don’t come. Look, the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please." Jeremiah 40:4

The people from Jerusalem, bound and chained, had set out on the long march to Babylon. Jeremiah was with them. Then at Ramah a surprising thing happened. Nebuzaradan, a commander in the Babylonian army, found him.

“I know about your God and how this is a punishment for the sins of the people,” he said. “But today I’m going to set you free.”

With that he took the chains off Jeremiah’s hands and feet. “You can come with me,” he went on, “or go wherever you like in the country. If you stay here you might want to go to Mizpah. There Gedaliah is watching over everyone who is left.”

So Jeremiah went to live with Gedeliah. Again God had helped him. This time He had sent an enemy commander to set him free.

The God who helped Jeremiah is the same God we worship today. If we obey Him and live for Him like Jeremiah did, He can and will look after us in wonderful and unexpected ways.

PRAYER: Dear God, please look after me today.

MORE: Jeremiah’s End
A few months after Jeremiah came to live with Gedaliah, Gedaliah was killed in a plot. The new leaders were afraid of Nebuchadnezzar. They thought he would come after them because the man he had put in charge had been murdered.

They decided to get far away from Babylon and go to Egypt. Their new leader Johanan asked Jeremiah to find out what God thought about their plan. You can read the answer God gave Jeremiah in Jeremiah 42:7-18.

But Johanan didn’t pay any attention to Jeremiah’s words. Instead, all the people went to Egypt, as they had planned. They took Jeremiah with them. He probably died there.



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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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