Prison in Palace!
Jeremiah 32:2 “Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah.”
I HAVE GIVEN THE BELOW SUBTITLES:
• PRISON IN PALACE/ HIDING PLACE
• LIGHT IN THE DARK
• PRUDENT
• EARTHEN JAR
HIDING PLACE:
As a teenager I studied in a big, reputed convent School, we were in poverty but my parents despite our situation gave us good education; I was very shy about our poverty though. I remember entering a big building with three floors very proudly but we stayed in a small one room house on the top third floor. While I read the above scripture of prophet Jeremiah being put in a prison in a palace, I remembered that stage of my life; friend there are various stages in our life and each has a purpose. After several years I understood that God had to take me through that touch terrains in my early childhood, so that I could today run a school for the poor and underprivileged kids – I understand every bit of their feelings.
Let me share one particular incident that happened in our Abide Angel Home which would help you understand the hurts inside those tender hearts. When one particular girl whose father had left her while she was a baby, had gone home for holidays, after she returned, the children were all travelling in the van, she was proudly narrating to her friends which I was hearing from the front seat. She said,” my father came home, bought me new clothes, dolls, ate with us and we all went out”, children were listening to her, spellbound by her story. Before going to bed that day, I called her to my room alone and asked her, “was all that you said true?” , she said ‘no’ and she wept. We work in the midst of such broken hearts, I can understand the pain but one day they would understand that they were put safely in ABIDE SCHOOL and ABIDE ANGEL HOME and taken care of by God. Amen.
Because prophet Jeremiah spoke the truth, he was put in a prison inside the palace; however, God saw to it that the prison was inside the palace! Ah! Clap hands for God! Jeremiah had access to good air, place was clean and also safe from outside dangers. Do you understand now? Some blessings come to us in disguise which we would be able to understand later.
Light in the dark
Jeremiah 32: 7 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you (prophet Jeremiah), saying, "Buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it."'
The above portion intrigued me a lot and I will be sharing my thoughts with you! The city is in chaos, God prophesied that the city would be burnt and destroyed; yet, He told his prophet Jeremiah to buy a field from his uncle who will be coming to see him in the prison.
Few thoughts from the above verse:
• Prison doors cannot shut the Word of God from reaching you
• Your environment doesn’t determine your destiny
• You can be calm in the storm
• Your divine helper would come searching for you
• You will be buying property while the world is crashing around you
• Wow and wow
Friend, the above portion should make a child of God to dance and jump, if not now then when? COVID 19 cannot stop your blessings, give God a mighty hand of praise, will you?
All God wants you to do is obey Him wholeheartedly like Jeremiah and stay in His presence even if things are chaotic around you. Be a light in this dark world, do not give excuses to stay in the mud along with people around you, arise and give them a helping hand to come out of mess too.
BE PRUDENT:
Jeremiah 32:10”I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.”
Ah! I cannot miss this part of Prophet Jeremiah’s prudent and discreet in execution of the word of God which should be great lesson for us as servants of God. I have watched many servants of God receive the Word of God clearly but alas because of their lackadaisical and shabby way of execution they get into a mess which sometimes sabotages their ministry. Money handling should be done with utmost care! Warning!
Proverbs 27:12 “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.”
Proverbs 13:16 “In everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.”
I always tell my husband, ‘we need to be extremely careful in handling money and be brutally shrewd and astute.’ I have to use the word ‘brutal’ because some people easily fall prey to the stories of the enemy, we should never part with the money unless we hear clearly from God. Though God gave us many projects like School, Church and Children Home for the poor; yet, many times, our bank balance had been zero for several years, believe me, we would have enough money just to run the show. We were giving free lunch, uniforms, stationary and also free accommodation for few students who were children of single parents, all this had to be done with minimum resource. Servants of God need to be judicious, cautions and sensible.
God said when you are faithful with the ‘little’ then He can give you ‘more’!
• Jeremiah weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver.
• He signed and sealed the deed, and
• called in witnesses
• weighed out the silver on the scales.
• There was a private and an open copy of the deed
• he was ordered to lay them up in an earthen vessel
• though he was dealing with relatives known to him; yet, Jeremiah shrewdly handled the purchase
Proverbs 14:15 “The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.”
EARTHEN JAR
Jeremiah 32:14'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time."
The above scripture kind of simply blew my mind! Amazing! Sometimes God speaks some words of ‘gold’ while you are actually going through some crazy situations, doesn’t He? The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, at a time when the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah. Boy! There was chaos in the city with army moving around maliciously but God brought delicious news to Jeremiah and said,” your uncle will be meeting you and you buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. Wow! Those were specific instructions! God does no hogwash talk!
On one side God told that the city will be captured by the enemies and burnt down but on the other hand He told His prophet Jeremiah that He should buy property and keep the sealed deed copy in an earthenware jar, so that it would be safe for a long time. How can an earthenware jar be safe in the midst of war and fire??? Will it not break? What does God want to tell us through this? When it is in the custody of God, the jar can be brittle and fragile; yet, God can preserve it! God through this, told the people to trust Him. Jeremiah believed and said: “Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.” (Jeremiah 32:17) Hey friend, bank lockers can fail but not the EARTHEN JAR designed by God, are you listening? Trust Him!
While I was working for a multinational bank as an executive secretary, I got saved through the miraculous healing that I received from God, during the complicated second pregnancy and the miraculous birth of my son Joshua. (You can read my full testimony on our website: https://worshipjesusministriestrust.org/aboutus.php) After I worked for few years and did part-time ministry in the bank, I resigned to join full time ministry in His Vineyard. Just before resigning, I closed all my money-back policies and other long term insurance policies as well( I don’t advise you to do so), since now my trust was in Him only. Without a SURE income, life might look like fragile MUD POT but hang on……………you are in the Hands of the Potter!
I love to quote here the words of Apostle Paul:
2 Corinthians 4:7”But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves..”
The surpassing power of God resides in earthen vessels like us, weak, frail and also vulnerable to sickness like other normal humans; YET….listen…..YET, the power of God is inside this mud pots that convicts, convinces and coverts souls but remember all this power is from God the author. God calls us EARTHEN VESSELS but did He not also say that we are Temple of God too? Yes, God dwelling inside us gives value to these MUD POTS! Any time, pride kicks in, tell yourself I am just a mud pot……mud pot…….my value comes from the Power that resides inside me. Without HIM I am nothing. (John 15:5) He is the Vine and we are the branches, without Jesus, we can do nothing.
GIDEON
Mud pitchers were used as army weapons by Gideon which confused the enemies, the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. But when the trumpets were blown and the pitchers were smashed, the Lord confused them and the enemies were destroyed. (Judges 7:16-19) Yes, with God on your side, MUD PITCHERS can do amazing things for you!
