Ebed who?

Jeremiah 37 -39 Novels and mysteries have cliff hanger episodes to keep us riveted to the plot. Jeremiah’s book is no different, and chapter by chapter, we are privy to the plans of the villains and heroes. The villains don’t believe Jeremiah the prophet and so plot to keep the cowardly vacillating king, Zedekiah, from surrendering.

Zedekiah vacillates between keeping Jeremiah safe and yielding to the villains—even after hearing Jeremiah tell him the best option.  In the middle of this, Jeremiah’s fateful mistake leads to him being caught and hidden in a muddy cistern. While the villains are busy slapping each other on the back for getting rid of Jeremiah, Ebed Melech, a court servant, is busy convincing Zedekiah to let him free Jeremiah out of the cistern.  Zedekiah for once wisely allows Ebed to free Jeremiah.

Ebed Melech is the courageous man of the hour.

Through this entire chapter, we have God’s eyes to see who would be true to Him. It turns out that it wasn’t an Israelite but a courageous Ethiopian who becomes Jeremiah’s savior.  In his humility he never asks for a reward but God saw and spared him when the Babylonians took Jerusalem.

You never know when God will use you to be the person of the hour, but this one thing you can be certain of:

God rewards humility, faithfulness and courage.