Whom Do I Fear?

Scripture: 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.’

Jeremiah 38:20b-22

 

Observation: Zedekiah doesn't fear the Lord. He is inquiring of Jeremiah only because he fears the Babylonians, and when Jeremiah instructs him on how to save his life he then fears the Jews who have already surrendered to the Babylonians. Jeremiah tells him that, if he fails to follow the Lord's instructions, then the women of his own household will mock him ... a fate he fears. And the mocking words of the women will be that Zedekiah's friends - whose opinions he clearly feared - have misled him.

 

In other words, out of the fear of death, harm, shame, and public opinion, Zedekiah feared everyone ... except God, who was the one person in control of everything else.

 

Application: At some point in time, we are all Zedekiah. In some situation we fear the opinions or actions of others in the present, more than we fear the opinion and future actions of God. We may fear to express our faith to others, or join in an inappropriate conversation, or gossip about others, or boast about ourselves, or any other number of things that God wouldn't approve of, because we seek approval of others, or in some cases to avoid harm from others.

 

This is a huge stumbling block, so I need to take time to see where I may be doing that. I don't lie about my faith, but are there times I should be bolder in expressing it and I don't because I fear a backlash from others? This is a great offense to God. Jesus taught that, if we deny him, he will deny us. In Zedekiah's case, his entire fate hung in the balance on one issue ... did he care more about the opinion of God, or the opinions of people?

 

I think I fail to acknowledge that this is an issue critical to my salvation. I must always care about God's opinion of my words and actions more than I care about the opinions of others. When I do, God will protect me and care for me. When I fail ... I'll be on my own, and that never works out well.

 

Prayer: Lord, you are the center of my life. While I do care about what others think of me, it is critical to my life to always act with the understanding that I only care about what you think of me. I need to play to an audience of one. May my words and actions always be pleasing to you, and however others react to them will be a matter between you and them. Amen.