Jeremiah 37:19
“Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?”
Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah a question that needed to be answered. He asked, “Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you…” These prophets prophesied against Jeremiah. These prophets said that Babylon would not come and take Jerusalem. These prophets said that Jeremiah’s preaching was too extreme. Yet, when Jeremiah asked Zedekiah where were his prophets, Babylon was outside the gates of Jerusalem.
Zedekiah, where are your prophets when your country is overtaken by the Chaldeans? Zedekiah, where are your prophets when your sons are killed right before your eyes? Zedekiah, where are your prophets when your eyes are plucked out of their sockets? Zedekiah, where are your prophets when your house is burnt with fire? Zedekiah, where are your prophets as you sit bound with chains in a Babylonian prison? Zedekiah, where are your prophets when the walls of Jerusalem are broken down?
I bet you wish you had listened to Jeremiah when he told you to cleanse your ways. I bet you wish you had fired the false prophets who prophesied peace when war was at your doorsteps. I bet you wish you had done what was right the first time, but now it’s too late. Now you sit in a prison cell mourning the loss of your family. Now you sit in a prison cell with your eyes plucked from your sockets never again to see another sunrise or beautiful flower. Now you realize that Jeremiah wasn’t so divisive or hard, because now you realize what he said was true. But now it’s a little too late.
Sadly, this story is played out in the lives of Christians over and over again. I watch Christians who think they know better than the man of God who warns them that what they are doing will lead to hurt and destruction. I watch Christians listen to the compromising preachers who call out those preachers who preach the truth and say they are angry preachers who have an agenda.
Yes, we do have an agenda. Our agenda is to save your family from heartache. Our agenda is to keep your daughter from the hands of a promiscuous young man. Our agenda is to make sure you happily grow old. Our agenda is to make sure your children walk down the aisle of marriage as a virgin, pure and innocent. Our agenda is to keep your mind from being controlled by lust. Our agenda is to make sure you never see the backdoor of sin. Our agenda is to make sure that you are not the next illustration of sin’s effect. Our agenda is to preach in such a manner that you won’t have to look back at your life with regret.
Friend, where are these preachers who told you to lower your standards when you walk into the preachers office with a daughter who is pregnant as a teenager? Where are these preachers who told you that casual living is the way we do things today, as you sit in a divorce court because your spouse was too casual with their work partner or a friend at church? Where are these compromising preachers who preached grace without truth when sin has touched your life and left its devastation?
Christian, you would be wise to listen to the Jeremiah’s whom God has placed in your life. The preachers who tell the truth may not always be as smooth as the compromising preacher, but they are telling the truth, and they are trying to keep you from facing the heartache that Zedekiah saw. Don’t disdain the Jeremiah’s in your life. Listen to them, for they only want the best for your life.