Men's Devotional: For Men, by MenExemplo

A Man’s Word

After all the ill-advised moves he had made in earlier situations, in this passage King Zedekiah did a few things right. First, the king went to Jeremiah, God’s representative, for needed advice. He was in a desperate situation, with the armies of Babylon on their way, and his advisers were anxious to know the king’s next move.

They were furious when Jeremiah advised the king to give up and abandon their homeland without a fight. In these days of brutal warfare, no nation trained its leaders to simply relinquish ground to the enemy without raising a hand against them. And the officials in this ancient government weren’t inclined to do so either. But God had spoken to Jeremiah and reassured him that His people would be safe and protected if they went quietly into exile. God had even promised them that He would restore them to their land after a certain period of time. So that’s what this prophet advised.

The next thing that Zedekiah did right in this passage was to stick to his word. Despite having abused the prophet in the recent past, he promised Jeremiah protection and pledged to keep their conversation secret. Even though Jeremiah told him exactly what he didn’t want to hear, the king stayed true to his word. Jeremiah turned out to be a man of his word as well. He returned the king’s favor, honoring his request that he speak not a word about their conversation to the other officials.

A man’s word is vital. If you’re with a group of guys, say from your neighborhood, church group or place of employment, it’s important that you can rely on your friends and trust them to be men of their word. If one of the guys gets caught in a lie or divulges information given in confidence, it takes a long time for that person to rebuild a level of trust with the group. If you’re the offended party, you’ll be careful what you say around that person for a long time, until you’re sure you can trust him again.

Follow the example of Jeremiah and Zedekiah who, despite their differences, despite the difficult circumstances in which they found themselves, acted with honor and integrity.

Can you think of any other aspect of a man’s character that’s more important than honor and integrity?