Confronted With The Truth….

There comes a time in every human beings life when you are confronted with the truth. There are three responses to choose from. First, you can deny it, continue to live the way you’ve been living, pretending life is good and you’re doing the “right thing”. Always defending yourself, but yet needing agreement to support your cause. Second, you can ignore it; passively wishing it was never said. Lastly, you can take heed, acknowledge it, and respond with honesty and integrity and do what’s necessary to make it right. Zedekiah was the appointed king of Judah. He was all over the place, especially when it came to integrity. He imprisoned Jeremiah, then freed him, then imprisoned him again. He threatened not to kill him, then to kill him if he spoke out about their conversations. Jeremiah told Zedekiah that if he surrendered to the Babylonians he would survive and live. It was God’s will for those that surrendered to live and eventually be brought back to Judah. Zedekiah was faced with this situation. Would he listen to Jeremiah and surrender? Would he ignore Jeremiah and continue to defend the city? Or would he be angry with Jeremiah for speaking the truth? We all face situations like this throughout life. It’s only when we are honest with ourselves, and accept the truth that we make the right decisions. We are all accountable to God regardless of how “we feel” or what others “think”. Unfortunately, Zedekiah didn’t make the right choice. His lack of integrity cost him his life, along with his family’s lives as well. Integrity has no holidays. Each time we are confronted with the truth how we respond matters. The choices we make have consequences. And most of the time those consequences affect us for the rest of our lives. Sometimes affecting others as well. What type of response do you typically make when your confronted with the truth? Your answer will summarize the state of your existence.

14 One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and had him brought to the third entrance of the Lord’s Temple. “I want to ask you something,” the king said. “And don’t try to hide the truth.”15 Jeremiah said, “If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”16 So King Zedekiah secretly promised him, “As surely as the Lord our Creator lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to the men who want you dead.”17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down. 18 But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.’ ”19 “But I am afraid to surrender,” the king said, “for the Babylonians may hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me!”20 Jeremiah replied, “You won’t be handed over to them if you choose to obey the Lord. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: 22 All the women left in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army. Then the women will taunt you, saying, ‘What fine friends you have!They have betrayed and misled you.When your feet sank in the mud,they left you to your fate!’ 23 All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t tell anyone you told me this, or you will die! 25 My officials may hear that I spoke to you, and they may say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don’t tell us, we will kill you.’ 26 If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan’s dungeon, for fear you would die there.”27 Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the king’s officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king’s instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king. 28 And Jeremiah remained a prisoner in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured. Jeremiah 38:14-28