Ready to Obey…Not
We returned to some sunshine today, which was nice. I had a breakfast meeting with members of my LEAP Steering Committee. My mother and I had haircut appointments, how about that! Since her’s took longer it gave me time to get in a workout at the fitness center. Tomorrow is my aunt, my mom’s sister, 100th birthday celebration.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “So pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.” Then Jeremiah the prophet answered… I will pray to the Lord your God as you have asked. I will tell you everything he says and not hide anything from you.” Then the people said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and loyal witness against us if we don’t do everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. It does not matter if we like the message or not…” Jeremiah 42:3-6 NCV
I am reminded of the story of the man who was hiking and fell off a cliff. He grabbed hold of a branch and frantically called, “Lord help me, I will do whatever you want me to do.” He heard a voice say, “This is the Lord, let go of the branch.” The man cried out, “Is anyone else up there!”
I think of that story as I read the full account of the last days for God’s people in Judah. Nebuchadnezzar has lead his armies to take the people captive. There is a remnant of poor people left in the land under the rule of Gedaliah , a Governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar. Gedaliah is killed in an uprising and the people are afraid of retribution from the Babylonians and are considering fleeing to Egypt as a place of refuge.
The people were recognizing that what had happened was due to their sin and rebellion, so the leaders came to Jeremiah to seek the Lord’s direction. This seems to be a step in the right direction and Jeremiah prays for ten days and then gives them the Lord’s message.
“This is what the God of Israel says: ‘If you will stay in Judah, I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not pull you up, because I am sad about the disaster I brought on you. Now you fear the king of Babylon, but don’t be afraid of him. Don’t be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘because I am with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power. I will be kind to you, and he will also treat you with mercy and let you stay in your land.’ “ (Jeremiah 42:9-12 NCV)
The Lord through Jeremiah warns the people of dire consequences if they insist on going to Egypt. He says basically what you feared would happen, will happen to you in Egypt.
The message is clear, the Lord honored their request through His servant Jeremiah and the people respond…..“You are lying! The Lord our God did not send you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to live there.’ … you [want] to hand us over to the Babylonians so they can kill us or capture us and take us to Babylon.”
Oops! What happened to we will obey regardless?! How do we respond when the Lord’s direction for our life is different than our preconceived plans? Do we ask the Lord for direction or just confirmation and endorsement of what we want to do? Do we treat the Lord’s direction and provision with contempt or with integrity?
I am reminded of a young lady my kids were familiar with during their college years. This fellow student fasted and prayed and believe God for a miracle provision of finances to attend college. The Lord came through in a truly miraculous way. However, the prayer and promise of “Lord if you provide the finances for me to stay in school, I will complete my education” became viewed as an option and she ended up leaving school any way.
My heart sinks when I hear of accounts like those. But before I become to “self righteous” I need to reflect on times, even if they are less dramatic, when the Lord says, “do” and I don’t or He says, “don’t” and I do. I believe the reason we connect with the history of God’s people is because we can see ourselves in them.
In the end we see God’s people fleeing to Egypt and what they feared happened. Some were killed and others were captured and taken to Babylon. The other part of it was the nation of Egypt succumbed to the power of Babylonian Empire in the process. I know, the conquest of Egypt by the Babylonians was destined to take place regardless, but we need to understand that our disobedience often impacts others. We also see that what we think we will avoid or accomplish by taking control over our own life doesn’t happen.
We can have confidence that the Lord hears the cry of sincere hearts. He will guide and He will provide as we place our trust in Him. The question is, “will we be faithful to follow even when His will conflicts with ours?”