Speaking What They Need, not What They Want To Hear

[S] Jeremiah 38:4 --
 ⁴Then the officials said to the king, "Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm."

[O] Talk about being between rock and a hard place.  What do you when you have God on one side and angry people on the other side ready to murder you at a heart beat?  Jeremiah was in that specific situation and he stuck with God by telling them what God wanted them to hear which was far from what they really wanted to hear as the Chaldeans are pressing into the city.  What's so sad is that Jeremiah was speaking for the benefit of the people but they sure did not think so.  What does our society prefer to hear about the issues we have?  Comforting messages of we're all working hard to improve our situations, at times, over promising goals that are unattainable but provides a sense of comfort.  This is false comfort and a wrong way of getting ourselves out of trouble.  When we put so little effort in establishing the fundamental values in our families and close communities we have lost a sense of diligently working toward restoring these critical values back into our families and communities.  Instead, we're looking for a quick fix and that usually leads to be drawn to false promises which just sounds good.  I'm very encouraged to see Jeremiah (the Weeping Prophet) stick to the message of people's need to return to the basic relationship with God because even though they may have wanted to hear a soothing message of how they'll be alright, they really needed to hear the message of God's invitation of returning to Him regardless of the deadly situation they were up against.  To me, this is what standing up Jesus is all about.  Being what Jesus wants me to be and speak what He wants me to speak.  This may put me in a bind at times, but He will also provide me the way out from there (1 Corinthians 10:13).

[A] Don't need to look for trouble but my key to standing up for Jesus is to stay close to Him every day so that when I need to stand up for Him it won't be such a struggle because I'm being pulled from two different directions so strongly.

[P] Dear God, make me a follower of Jesus so intimate that I will not think twice about standing up for You because it'll come so naturally.  May the decision to standing up for You be made each and every day not when I'm up against the situation calling me to make such a decision.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.