R. Tyler Scott
As a Christian Author, I want everything I write to glorify Jesus. I am going to be posting once a day for the next few weeks, a new devotion that the Lord has given me. The subject is Being a servant to God’s servants. I hope that it is a blessing to you and your family. If it is, share it and let it bless others. Not for my glory because I deserve none, but all for God’s glory.
Day one
Jeremiah 38: 7-13,39:16-18
Ebed-Melech
Ebed-Melech is where this devotional study starts. He was an Ethiopian Eunuch who is mentioned only twice in scripture, but he had a great affect on Jeremiah and his ministry. Jeremiah had prophesied unto the people of Judah and Jerusalem, everything God had given him to say. For that faithful service, Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern to starve and die. But earlier in the chapter when God had called Jeremiah, he told him to tell the people everything that God said. God also said that they would fight against Jeremiah but they would not prevail because God was with him. In my flesh, I have to believe that Jeremiah, as he sank into the mire of the cistern, might have begun to doubt those words. But God had a plan to use someone who was not even a Jew to preserve his promise to Jeremiah. Ebed-Melech had access to the King and was able to secure Jeremiah’s release from the certain death of the Cistern. Because of his faithfulness to God and God’s servant, when Jerusalem was finally taken and destroyed, Ebed-Melech was given safety and grace from God.
There are no written details of why Ebed-Melech took on the responsibility of securing Jeremiah’s release. Maybe he and Jeremiah had developed a friendship over the years. Maybe he was a man who was a prisoner who hated injustice. Or maybe he was just a man who loved God and wanted to do his will. Whatever the reason, his service to God’s servant could have cost him his life. He could have been thrown in the cistern with Jeremiah because the attitude of the King and his Princes was one of hatred toward Jeremiah. Here lies the key to this Servant of God’s servant. He did not care about what was said about him or what they thought about him. God’s servant was in a bind and he needed help. Ebed-Melech did not concern himself with personal pain. The Babylonians were surrounding the city and were sure to take it, but Ebed-Melech was not concerned with these outside influences. The servant of the most high God was in trouble and he was going to help him.
How many of us see God’s servant’s, whether they be Pastors, or lay people, or just someone trying to live for Christ and nothing seems to be going right for them. Instead of wondering what they did to cause this heartache, search for ways to help them. Prayer is good and prayer is important, but sometimes we as a people say we are going to pray about something instead of acting because we are scared to act. There are many times that we need to pray about how to handle something. But whether we should help take care of God’s servants in their time of need is not one of them. If you see a servant in need, be like Ebed-Melech and go help them. You may have to use man or man’s authority as Ebed-Melech, but you already have God’s authority. Go in power and confidence and serve the Servant. Without this servant, Jeremiah would have surely died, but because of the servant’s heart, Jeremiah lived and God’s promise was fulfilled.
Isn’t it a wonderful thought that our actions might be the very thing that allows God’s promises to
be fulfilled. That in and of itself should be enough to cause us to look for opportunities to serve.
