“King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseaiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”
Jehoiakim was the king of Judah before Zedekiah. Jehoiakim was a wicked man who did not listen to the Lord. In fact, when the Lord told Jeremiah to write down all the prophetic words He had given him and read them to the people, Big J burned the scrolls. After that display of defiance, the Lord replaced Big J and booted him out of office. Zedekiah was made king in his place by none other than Nebuchadnezzar himself. Yes, Big Nebby replaced Big J, and the Bible says Big J and the people paid no attention to the words of Jeremiah.
After becoming king, Zedekiah sent a message to Jeremiah to pray to the Lord for them (v.3). Jeremiah was on his way back to the land of Benjamin to claim his share of land when the priest there thought he was defecting to the Babylonians and threw him into a dungeon. King Zedekiah heard about this and had him sent back to Judah to see what was going on and to get a word from the Lord. Pleading his case before the king, Jeremiah was told to stay in the courtyard of the guards, where he was fed a loaf of bread a day until all the bread in the city was gone.
Jeremiah was not set free to live in a garden with servants feeding him grapes all day, but being safe in the courtyard of the guards was a whole lot better than the dungeon. After all, Jeremiah was going about the Lord’s business, and the powers at hand tried to silence him and shut him up for good, leaving him to rot in a dungeon. While in the dungeon, the Lord used Big Nebby to replace Big J, and the new replacement, Zedekiah, sent a message to have the man of God pray for Judah. Jeremiah was rescued.
All that history is to key you in on God’s sovereign hand. We sing a song at church that goes, “Even when we don’t see it, He’s working. Even when we don’t hear it, He’s working. He never stops! He never stops working!” Someone needs to hear that. The Lord uses all kinds of earthly things to accomplish His will, and He is working even when you don’t see or hear it. It all started when Zedekiah sought the Lord through Jeremiah’s prayer.
Prayer is the gas in the engine of faith. It may look shiny and cool with all new seats and tires, but without gas, no one is going anywhere. Take some time to talk to God and pray. Put some gas in the engine of your faith. The open road of God’s will for your life is waiting.
Prayer: Lord, I pray that we understand You are always working and never stop. I pray that when we go through hard times, we realize You have our backs and that we put our trust in You, Lord. I also pray that we never let the cares of this world drive us away from understanding that You are with us all the time, even in the valley of the shadow of death. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
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