Heeding Warning Signals

King Jehoiakim was twenty-nine, when a prophet named Jeremiah gave words of warning from the Lord to save his life and the life of his nation.

“The king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll... And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king.

Now, the king was sitting in the winter house… with a fire burning on the hearth before him. And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

And the king commanded his son Jerahmeel, as well as Seraiah… and Shelemiah… to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.” [1]

King Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of God. When he was 36 years old, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon captured him, bound him in chains and carried him off to a Babylonian prison. [2]

When God warns anyone of impending disaster, it is because He loves us. God wants to save us. It was King Jehoiakim’s stubborn bent on doing evil that brought about his demise. He threw God’s Word into a fireplace. He burnt the script, but God’s Word still came to pass.

“Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for warning signals. Please grant that our hearts will be tender and that our ears will be attentive to what You say. We pray for our governmental leaders that they do not disregard You and Your Word the Bible to their own demise and to the demise of our nation. Please help both them and us to heed Your warning signals. To regard Your Word, the Bible, as true and infallible. For it is in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ that we pray. Amen.”

[1] Jeremiah 36:21-23
[2] 2 Chronicles 36:5-6