One Man’s Courage, Jer 1:17-19

There are times when you may be all alone in what you must do for the Lord.  Take courage in the fact that some other men had to go it alone to accomplish God’s will for their lives.  You can do it, when God is with you.  If you don’t, you may find that you alone were the cause of great calamity or failure for others.  What you do alone has great consequences, not only for you, but for others.

One man stood with God against his entire nation – Jer 1:17-19 – Jeremiah.  They beat him, put him in the stocks [Jer 20:2], tried to kill him [Jer 26:10-11], imprisoned him [Jer 32:2], and lowered him into the mire in the dungeon [Jer 38:4-6].  He just kept on preaching the truth and pronouncing God’s judgments against them.  Nevertheless, Jeremiah survived the siege and captivity and was given liberty by Nebuchadnezzar [Jer 39:11-12].

One man saved that prophet’s life – Jer 38:6-13 – Ebedmelech.  Imagine the risk that he took to plead for Jeremiah’s life.  Jeremiah was hated by the men of Jerusalem.  The eunuch was an Ethiopian.  He could have easily been imprisoned for this.  He put his own life on the line to save Jeremiah.  That took courage.  His life was spared because he put his trust in the Lord [Jer 39:16-18].

One man preached God’s words publicly to all the people – Jer 36:1-10 – Baruch.  He stood all alone to proclaim the words of the Lord in the ears of all the people.  That took courage.  He was regarded as a notorious seditionist and supporter of the Chaldeans for this.  They wanted to kill him [Jer 36:26].  When Jeremiah told them not to go to Egypt they blamed Baruch for putting this idea in his head [Jer 43:3].  That was his reproach.  Nevertheless, God promised to spare Baruch’s life for standing true to the words of God [Jer 45:1-5].

One man caused an entire city to burn – Jer 38:14-19 – Zedekiah.  If Zedekaih had had the courage to not fear being mocked by those who had already been taken captive to Babylon, he could have saved his life, his family’s life and his city.  Instead, he feared the people rather than the Lord and caused the death of his family and the destruction of Jerusalem.  There was much collateral damage that resulted from his disobedience.  The last thing he saw before he was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar was his sons being executed [Jer 39:4-8]. 

One man died to save the world – Jesus Christ.  Rom 5:15, 17, 19.  “… the gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”  “… so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”  One man stood alone against the devil and sin so that we might be saved by believing on him.  And now he is crowned with glory.

Conclusion: you may find yourself all alone in God’s call upon your life.  These men did.  But if God is with you in your call, you can stand.  Therefore, you can do what he called you to do even if not another soul is with you when you do it.