Reading… and Thinking

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.”

— Jeremiah 42:5-6 (NIV)

Jerusalem was in ruins, the upper and middle classes deported to Babylon. Refugees and the remnants of the army were beginning to organize some semblance of a society, when the Babylonian-appointed governor was assassinated. Fearing Babylonian retribution, the people who were left in the land were thinking maybe they better head for Egypt. Egypt was the other super-power of the day – not as strong as Babylon, but they figured they surely would be safe there.

First, though, they thought they better ask the Lord’s guidance. Although no one had listened to him for the past 25 years, everything Jeremiah had prophesied had come to pass. So he must really have had the word of the Lord. The leadership came to Jeremiah, and spoke the words above. Finally they were getting it! Finally they were returning to the Lord, and would obey Him!

Fat chance. The first clue that they still didn’t get it is right in their oath that they will obey. Their assumption is that if the Lord says they shouldn’t go to Egypt, then that would be very unfavorable, something bad for them.

Through each of the sieges, Jeremiah had told them that if they surrendered to Babylon they would be treated well. A few did surrender, and they were treated well. But most resisted, and suffered greatly. If these people were listening at all, they would realize that doing what the prophet said resulted in good, never in harm. Harm came to those who failed to obey. God had no interest at all in inflicting harm on those who obeyed.

But the command was counter-intuitive. That is to say, contrary to the wisdom of the flesh. And they had no faith, which would allow them to trust God and silence the flesh. So the outcome was inevitable. Their words expressing willingness to obey were hollow. They could only see what they assumed – to stay was bad. If God commanded them to stay, then He wanted them to suffer. Therefore to avoid suffering they must go.

Incidents like this are recorded for our instruction. Do we ever face a choice between human wisdom and obedience out of faith? All the time! For example: God says that lying is sin, that a lie will not prosper even in the short term, and that all liars will perish forever. But we don’t want to face embarrassment, or create a conflict, or whatever other consequences we assume will happen if we tell the truth. So we fabricate a lie. We don’t really believe God when He says that the truth is the best thing for us and for others. And of course there are many other examples of the thinking of our flesh causing us to throw away the wise counsel that comes from our God.

Are we paying attention? We need to really think about stories like this one in Jeremiah, and be instructed. The Jews of Jeremiah’s day couldn’t learn from their own direct experience. The way of God is often counter-intuitive, conflicting with what we want. No surprise there! At the end, eternal life will be given to those who have listened to the wisdom from above, and been guided by it, instead of (again!) going with the instincts that come from the flesh.