God’s love, which is stronger than death, is causing me to continue walking the path of the mission the Lord has given me (John 6:1–15). “At that very time some Pharisees came and said to Him, ‘Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill You.’ He replied, ‘Go tell that fox, “I will keep driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach My goal.” In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 13:31–35). ...
A pastor may sometimes
experience being at the bottom of life.
The
officials took the prophet Jeremiah and lowered him
by
ropes into the cistern of the royal prince Malchiah,
which
was in the courtyard of the guard.
The
cistern had no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud
(Jeremiah
38:6).
As I
meditate on this passage,
I am
reminded of the prophet Jonah, who disobeyed God's command.
When
he prayed to his God from the belly of the great fish
(Jonah
2:1), he described himself as being in the deep waters (vv. 3, 5)
and sinking
down to the roots of the mountains, imprisoned in the land of death (v. 6).
Yet,
despite his situation, the prophet Jonah prayed to God,
saying,
"But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.
What
I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord" (v. 9).
As a
result, the Lord saved the prophet Jonah’s life from death (v. 6).
If
the Lord rescued the disobedient prophet Jonah,
wouldn’t
He also save the prophet Jeremiah, who was obeying God’s word?
The
Lord used Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian court official, to go to King Zedekiah and
say,
"Your
Majesty, what these men have done to the prophet Jeremiah is an evil act.
They
have thrown him into a cistern, and he will starve to death there
since
there is no bread left in the city."
So,
King Zedekiah commanded Ebed-Melech, "Take thirty men from here with you
and
lift the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies."
Thus,
the prophet Jeremiah was rescued from the pit where he had been trapped
(Jeremiah
38:7-13).
It
seems that even pastors, who are servants of the Lord, may sometimes experience
being
at the bottom of life, like being in a pit or the depths of the sea.
Such
experiences can lead them to feel a sense of despair.
However,
the great grace of God given in those desperate situations is
that the Holy Spirit makes them long for the
Lord even more and fills them with hope,
ultimately
allowing them to experience God's salvation.
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