“Jeremiah – The Prophet No One Listened To”

​B I B L E  B I T S  &  B I T E S
Devotions for Families

Season: Prophets
Episode 6: “Jeremiah – The Prophet No One Listened To”
Today’s Bible Bite: Jeremiah 1, 38

Video Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSK36cHbrk0 (Bible Project – for adults and older children)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f5erbw-TQc (Superbook – God visits Jeremiah)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64GYd0_ALX8 (Sharefaith Kids – Jeremiah in the Cistern)

“So these officials went to King Zedekiah and said, ‘Sir, Jeremiah must die! That kind of talk will undermine the morale of the few fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people. This man is a traitor!’” (Jeremiah 38:4)

God chose Jeremiah to be his prophet and to deliver his messages when Jeremiah was just a young man. God warned Jeremiah that people were not going to like what he had to say, but God would be with him. During Jeremiah’s day, the people had turned their backs on God and were worshiping lots of different idols. God decided to allow Babylon to capture Judah; he wanted the Israelites to realize that they needed him. By refusing to obey only him, they were telling God they didn’t need him and so he allowed the Babylonians to capture the city.

Before they did, however, Jeremiah had warned King Zedekiah about what God was going to do and advised the king to cooperate with the Babylonians. The Babylonians were going to take charge of the whole of Judah and many of the surrounding nations, but God would rescue his people from them again. They would be captives in Babylon for seventy years, but would then be allowed to come back when God punished the Babylonians.

The king, others leaders and the people did not want to hear what Jeremiah said. They were very mean to him. At one point, he was put in a cistern with no food. Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important court official, heard what had happened to Jeremiah and he arranged for him to be rescued from the mud in the cistern. God made certain that Jeremiah didn’t die, stuck in the mud, from starvation or worse. No matter how much people didn’t like his message, Jeremiah always only ever told the message God gave him to share.

Think about it...
• God chose Jeremiah to be his prophet and warned him that it was not going to be an easy job. How would you like it if God gave you a job like Jeremiah’s?
• Jeremiah’s job was to give the king and the people of Judah God’s messages. What was the message?
• The people didn’t want to surrender to the Babylonians. They got really angry with Jeremiah. What did they do?
• God sent a group of men to rescue Jeremiah. Did the attempt to kill Jeremiah silence him?
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Prayer: Thank you, God, for Jeremiah’s bravery and willingness to speak for you, even though others didn’t want to listen. Help us to be brave, too. Help us to obey you no matter what others might say or do.