Jeremiah 21-24: Choices…. we all make them everyday. Some choices are good and lead to life like healthy habits, exercise, time spent in God’s word. Some habits are bad and lead to destruction like over eating, gossip or malicious talk, reckless behavior. Every day we get to make choices. What we don’t get to determine are the consequences of these actions to a certain degree. We know where they will ultimately lead, but when and how we get there may vary. God told the Children of Israel they too had a choice to make and that their choice would determine where they would end up but they could not choose how they got there.
Jeremiah 21:8“And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war.”
I am sure to the people they thought WHAT??? To surrender to the enemy will allow me to live and give up the fight? Yes, those who gave up and surrendered to the conquering army would ultimately live but those who chose their own way would perish. The choice was theirs. Either way hard times were coming.
I feel in many ways that is where we have been and are as well. Hard times are coming, but we can choose to have faith to experience life or live in disobedience and fear and cease to live. There are eternal consequences to choosing to do things our way instead of His as well. So I lead you with this. Today you have a choice to make. God has set before you the way of life and the way of death. You choose. Choose wisely my friend not just in the things that are eternal but also the things that will affect your life here on earth. We have choices to make that lead to consequences. May we all make good choices today.