Year 6, Day 90: Jeremiah 37

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

This is a neat chapter in which we can view authority.  At first pass, who does it look like has all of the authority?  Of course, the answer is Zedekiah.  After all, isn’t he king?  Isn’t Zedekiah the one who locks up Jeremiah?  Isn’t he the one who gives edicts and decrees?  Isn’t he the one to whom Jeremiah is brought when he is accused of deserting?  At first glance, it looks like Zedekiah has all the power and authority in the story.

However, look at what Zedekiah does.  Zedekiah comes and asks Jeremiah if there is any word of the Lord.  Even if Zedekiah won’t humble himself to God, he still is capable of demonstrating that God has authority.

Furthermore, if Zedekiah actually had authority over Jeremiah, would Jeremiah be able to speak to the king in the manner that he does?  Of course not!  If Zedekiah had any authority at all, Jeremiah would be in trouble.  Another way of saying this is that since Jeremiah speaks this way to Zedekiah, Jeremiah is enforcing the idea that he really has no authority over Jeremiah’s life.

So often this is true in the world.  People think that they have authority.  People pretend to have the power to rule over others.    But nobody has authority outside of what God has ordained for them.  In fact, we really only have genuine authority when we humble ourselves before God as we have seen Jeremiah do in this whole book.

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