- Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. Jeremiah 41:2 – This was a sad day for Judah, their leader who was finally listening to the words of the Lord and leading them into some levels of joy was struck down and killed. This Ishmael was hired by a neighboring nation’s king to assassinate the newly appointed leader of Judah, yet what’s disappointing is that Gedaliah, the newly appointed leader, actually was made aware this was going to happen. In our previous chapter we see an official of Gedaliah approach him to tell him that Ishmael had been hired to kill him, yet Gedaliah did nothing about it. In fact when Ishmael came to him, he welcomed him and ate with him, which gave Ishmael the opportunity to kill Gedaliah, and he took it. Gedaliah was warned of his enemy’s goal, but did nothing to prepare against it and it led to his demise. Scripture does a wonderful job of opening our eyes to our enemy’s goal. Our enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to lure you away with sin so we are far from a faithful life after God. The enemy’s goals and plans have been made clear to us through scripture, what then are you doing to prepare against it? Or is the way you are approaching the enemy much like Gedaliah, refusing to believe the enemy is actually coming and refusing to plan against him. Remember how that worked for Gedaliah. The enemy is coming for you, but if prepare by trusting in the Lord, you have nothing to fear. With God you are safe, without God your demise is near. Make that choice today to prepare against your enemy by finding shelter within Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3271
- But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at the great pool that is in Gibeon. Jeremiah 41:11-12 – When you hear that evil and injustice is happening, what do you do? Say you hear a child is being hurt or you see someone being heavily mistreated. We should stand up for those being hurt as we read about it the passage. How about if someone is going to die and spend eternity away from God? Somehow we get less worked up about that than a child being hurt. As ambitious as we get to rightfully help children being abused, we need to be all the more ambitious about helping people see the pain of sin and the rescue they can find in Jesus. What’s evil is when we know the path to rescue yet people are dying to their sin because we never shared it with them. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 960
- And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced. Jeremiah 41:13 – To sum up the story happening in the chapter of you didn’t read it, Ishmael killed the leader of the land and took all the people there captive with the goal of carrying them to another land. Johanan, a friend and supporter of the slain leader, musters up a force to chase down Ishmael and rescue the captives. What struck me was those two words at the end of our verse, “they rejoiced.” An enemy had taken them captive and all seemed loss. Yet, a rescuer came and was coming in power to set them free. So of course rejoicing was the reaction! Today, know rejoicing can be your reaction too. If you have felt captive by your past, your current sins, or the labels you carry, know a rescuer has come. His name is Jesus and He has the power to set you free from any enemy that’s holding you. Jesus has come, Jesus has defeated the enemy, and Jesus is offering any who want it freedom through Him. If you are curious about this freedom you can find in Jesus, reach out. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2173
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