When The Going Get’s Tough
I don’t know about you, but when things start going south while I’m still going north, I just want to run and hide. The truth is, I don’t like difficulties, but when they start to overwhelm, I just want to find a hole to crawl through, or a cave to hide in.
But what I’ve learned is that these difficulties find me no matter where I try to hide, and the consequences are generally worse than if I had stayed and worked through them.
This was what King Zedekiah and his men found out when the army of the Chaldeans came bursting into Jerusalem after a two-year siege.
They left the city at night through a door nobody knew about, but the Chaldeans pursued, caught, and brought them back, and the consequences were severe.
“They took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah… and put him in prison till the day of his death.” (Jeremiah 52:9-11)
Afterwards the Babylonians came back to Jerusalem and burned the city and temple taking the rest of the people into captivity. The only ones who were left behind were the poor, and they were given the land to keep the crops growing.
We cannot run from our problems, and the consequences when we do can be severe, not only to ourselves, but also to others.
Yes, what brought them to this end was their rebellion against God and His word, but God always honors confession and repentance.
Therefore, when problems strike, look to the Lord and what He might be saying, and instead of running and hiding, confess and repent knowing that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).