“Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; they will escape with their lives.” Jeremiah 21:9. NIV
There are always consequences to our actions. Even if we turn back from our evil ways and choose “life” over “death” there will still be repercussions that we need to face. Upon true repentance our sin will be forgiven and remembered no more by our Heavenly Father, but this will not erase the pain and the hurt that we inflict onto others as a result of our wrong doing.
In today’s reading, the Israelites could choose to stay which would result in their sure death. Or, they could surrender to the Babylonians which would result in captivity to them, but it meant life. The Israelites now had to choose for themselves what they believed to be the lesser of two evils, making the best ought of the bad.
May we have the vision and the wisdom to look past the desires of our flesh. Not focusing on the temporary and immediate gratification, but rather considering the eternal outcome in all situations.
Lock Your Wings 
Good thoughts.
This stood out for me: ““Please speak to the Lord for us and ask him to help us. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking Judah. Perhaps the Lord will be gracious and do a mighty miracle as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his armies.””
Jeremiah 21:2 NLT
Interesting that just like us today, people who are undeserving cry out to God in their time of need. It’s in desperation that we fully realize our need for a Saviour. Also it makes me realize that there’s a huge difference between knowing and belief. They KNEW God could prevent the invasion and they KNEW God had acted on their behalf in the past but they didn’t BELIEVE in Jeremiah’s warning and they didn’t believe that their actions could result in the punishment they deserved.
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