“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,” declares the Lord, “because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.” Jeremiah 30:17.

Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness…will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Philippians 4:6-7 MSG.

This chapter, Jeremiah 38, shows us how frightened we are of what others will do to us. Imagine the chaos in Jerusalem. Four men have heard Jeremiah telling the people who are terrified, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live. And this is what the Lord says: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’” v. 2-3. Go to the enemy? They were incensed! Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.” v. 4. Imagine being Jeremiah. He is consistently telling the people what God is telling him to say and it is not what they want to hear. And the king’s response? “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered, “The king can do nothing to oppose you.” v. 5. So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. v. 6. They were trying to shut Jeremiah up from saying what Jeremiah knew God wanted them to know. And one man, a Cushite, an official of the royal palace, was appalled at what was done to Jeremiah. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in this city.” Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” v. 7-10. So Jeremiah was saved. And the king sends for Jeremiah. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.” Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.” But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.” Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.’” Can you imagine the position the king is in? And his honest answer? King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.” v. 19. A rock and a hard place. And over all of it? Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. Who should we fear? We have reason to fear men. And we have reason to trust God. “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you: “‘They misled you and overcame you – those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you.’ “All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.” v. 20-23. And Zedekiah response? He is more afraid of the officials knowing their conversation. And they will want to know. Does that sound like today? “If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’” v. 25-26. So Jeremiah did as the king asked. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured. v. 28.

Who do you fear? We know what men can do. What can God do? He can save us. He already has. Will we believe Him? We will we trust God whom we cannot see more than men whose violence is written in every page of our history? Our choice. And remember, what God has done is also written in the pages of Scripture.