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2 The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3 and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile. Jeremiah1:2-3
If we unpack the historical clues, Jeremiah was God's spokesman from 626BC-570BC. A ministry of 56 years.
These 56 years were tough. Jeremiah started his ministry with the last of the good kings of Israel and saw only weak kings that followed. He had a tough ministry.
Jeremiah warned Israel that they would be brought to judgement for centuries of idolatry, disobedience and oppression of the weak - unless they returned to the Lord their God in true repentance. If they did not, Jeremiah warned that God would use the Babylonians as agents of judgement to cause Israel to reap what it had sowed.
The Israelites did not listen. They had turned the temple into an idol and believed that the temple was a guarantee of their safety. It had become their "lucky rabbits foot." The Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and dragged the leaders and cream of society off into exile in Babylon.
In many ways Jeremiah is similar to Winston Churchill who warned of the danger in Germany and no-one listened. The difference is that when war did break out, Churchill was recognised whereas Jeremiah was not.
When Jeremiah (who remained in Jerusalem) dared to suggest that God was going to use the exiles rather than those who remained behind his popularity decreased further. When he tried to persuade those who had remained behind not to rebel against Babylonian rule, he was branded a traitor. When the people did rebel and Babylon crushed their rebellion, Jeremiah was dragged off to Egypt with some fleeing rebels where he died in obscurity.
The point of today's eDev is that in this series we going to hear from someone who served God in the long haul, experienced the "dark night of the soul", dealt with seeming failure, stuck to his principles and was unpopular and opposed.
But God used Jeremiah in a powerful way!
Are you willing to serve God in the long haul?
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
