Podcast Introduction Our reading today is Jeremiah 37-41, and I’m calling the episode “The Cowardly Mob.”  Comments on Jeremiah 38 In chapter 38, Shephatiah, Gedaliah, Jehucal and Pashhur, who were princes of Judah, did not like the message that Jeremiah was preaching:   “The Lord says, ‘Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives.’” 3 They had also heard him say, “The Lord says, ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon. They will capture it.’” They told king Zedekiah, “This man must be de-platformed, for he is spreading misinformation.” Okay. That’s a very loose translation. Actually, what they said is even worse: “This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. This man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them.” Was Jeremiah trying to harm them? Of course not. First off, Jeremiah was telling the people exactly what God told him to say. And the message God gave Jeremiah was their only hope of survival! How is this message harmful? It isn’t. And then, these princes, these paragons of truth, so full of courage, when the king wimped out and gave in to them, saying, “Very well, you can do what you want with him. For I cannot do anything to stop you”, didn’t even have the guts to shed Jeremiah’s blood. They wanted him dead, but they were too cowardly to do the deed. So they had him lowered into an abandoned cistern, where he would die of exposure, starvation or disease.  This is how the mob often works. Cowards. And what of Jeremiah? He was following God’s will implicitly, yet he was put in this terrible place. Yes, we heard that the Ethiopian official ultimately rescued him, but let’s not negate Jeremiah’s time in the pit. This was no picnic. It was dark, it was miserable. He was standing in a foul, disgusting muck for some period of time. Beloved, just because we are doing God’s will does not mean that we won’t have to stand in the slime from time to time. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re out of God’s will when the situation is hard. I can tell you from personal experience that when you are doing your best to follow God’s leading, that is the time that the enemy attacks. That’s when friends will turn against you. That’s when your health might fail. That’s when finances go in the dumper. That’s when the most unexpected things happen. If you’re seeking God, fear not! Don’t be discouraged. Hang on to God. He is always faithful when circumstances look bleak.  In Jeremiah’s case, the Ethiopian, Ebed Melech come to the rescue and pulled him out. I can’t promise you’ll be rescued in the same way. But I do know that God is sovereign, and your circumstances are not beyond His control. He knows what you are going through, and He does use difficulties to strengthen you and shape you into the man or woman He wants you to be. Just because things get hard does not mean it’s time to give up. When things get hard, it’s time too look up!