Day 20: Jeremiah 39:17

"But I will rescue you on that day, declares the Lord; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear." ~Jeremiah 39:17 NIV

Jeremiah, as I look back on him, was a remarkable person, because all of his prophecies came true (duh) but also because he prophesied even though nobody believed him. He followed God's word to the last letter, and NOBODY ever really took him seriously. He predicted the Babylonians would capture Jerusalem. He predicted that the Israelites would stay in captivity for 70 years. All of these things came to pass. But the Levites and priests and the king all were mad at Jeremiah for spreading bad news among the people. During the final siege at Jerusalem, Jeremiah was arrested and thrown into a cistern. A Cushite named Ebed-Melech was the only person in Jerusalem who bothered to convince the king to let Jeremiah go, and he succeeded in getting Jeremiah out safely. And the above verse comes as a piece of God's special message to Ebed.

In essence, the message was God telling Ebed that He was going to crush the city, but that Ebed would get out safely. God says that "I will deliver you on that day." Ebed had the reassurance of God himself that he would "not be given into the hands of those" he feared. Standing up for the right thing resulted in God's delivering hand over his life. I bet he felt a whole lot better about the whole thing when Jeremiah told him what God said. And since it's in the Bible, we can trust that it is also written for us - God will deliver us in our day of trouble as well.

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