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Day 222, or August 10. How many times do you need to hear? Our thoughts today are rooted

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in Jeremiah chapter 38, verse 20. Jeremiah replied,

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Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will

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be spared.

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First, the big picture surrounding this verse. Zedekiah decides the only way to silence the

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voice of Jeremiah is to throw him into prison. He is given a sound beating before being thrown

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into jail. Zedekiah has him released so he can hear what God has to say, and Jeremiah

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is placed under house arrest at the guardhouse where he is fed and looked after. However,

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he is then thrown into a cistern where he sinks into the mud at the bottom. Once again

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the king has second thoughts about God's prophet, and Jeremiah is released to speak

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to Zedekiah again. Despite all his conversations with Jeremiah, Zedekiah still comes to a sticky

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end. An escape attempt by the king and his family results in them being captured, seeing

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his sons killed, and then he is blinded and taken away to Babylon. His escape route is

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still marked in the centre of Jerusalem today, where there is a cave entrance not far from

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Damascus Gate. This is traditionally believed to have been used by Zedekiah. It's called

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Zedekiah's Cave, or Solomon's Quarries.

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And now today's action step. Zedekiah may not have followed his God, but that didn't

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stop him wanting to know what God was saying. He has at least three conversations with Jeremiah,

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but still decides to go his own way, and it ends disastrously. There are other examples

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of individuals listening to God, but then deciding to reject him. In the New Testament

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Governor Felix listens to Paul for two years, but never decides to believe. There are few

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better tools for the devil than procrastination, or maybe dithering is a better word. You need

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to listen to what God has to say, then you have to act. Don't be amongst those who hear

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but don't do anything. Join the band of those who hear and then act today.