JEHOVAH IS AN APPRECIATIVE GOD - Jehovah Rewards a God-Fearing Ethiopian

Jehovah Rewards a God-Fearing Ethiopian

That Jehovah shows his appreciation for those who do his will is repeatedly demonstrated in the Scriptures.  Consider his dealings with the God-fearing Ethiopian Ebed-melech, a contemporary of Jeremiah and a servant in the household of unfaithful King Zedekiah of Judah.  Ebed-melech learned that the princes of Judah had wrongly charged the prophet Jeremiah with sedition and had thrown him into a cistern, there to die without food.  (Jeremiah 38:1-7) Knowing that Jeremiah was bitterly hated because of the message he preached, Ebed-melech risked his own life and appealed to the king.  Courageously, the Ethiopian spoke:  "O my lord the kind, these men have done bad in all that they  have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have thrown into the cistern, so that he will die where he is because of the famine."  At the king's command, Ebed-melech took 30 men and rescued God's prophet. -Jeremiah 38:8-13.

Jehovah saw that Ebed-melech acted in faith, which helped him overcome any fear he might have had.  Thus, Jehovah showed his appreciation and said to Ebed-melech  through Jeremiah: "Here I am bringing true my words  upon this city for calamity and not for good . . . And I will deliver you in that day,  . . .and you will not be given  into the hand of the men of whom you yourself are scared.  For I shall without fail furnish you an escape . . .;and you will certainly come to have your soul as a spoil, because you have trusted in me."  (Jeremiah 39:16-18)  Yes, Jehovah delivered Ebed-melech, as well as Jeremiah, from the  wicked princes of Judah and later from the Babylonians, who razed Jerusalem.  "[Jehovah] is guarding the souls of his loyal ones; out of the hand of the wicked ones he delivers them," says Psalm 97:10.

Next time: "Your Father Who Looks On in Secret Will Repay You"

The Watchtower, 2007