Scripture Passage
Scripture Focus
Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do! (Jeremiah 42:5 NLT)
Observation
This is another one of those “shouldn’t-make-me-laugh-‘cause-it’s-not-funny-but-it-does-because-it’s-so-typical” stories from Scripture.
It was a bad enough day for the people of Judah when they were conquered and pillaged by the heartless Babylonians. Now Gedeliah, the governor that Nebuchadnezzar had left in charge of the land, has been murdered by Ishmael, and Ishmael and his men have fled into Ammon. Nebuchadnezzar is likely to be none too happy about the disposition of the fellow he’d left in charge and the handful of leaders who are left are rightfully concerned for their own safety. What reason would Nebuchadnezzar not have to simply come in and wipe the rest of the population out, washing his hands of the whole mess!
So these guys approach Jeremiah. “Pray to the Lord your God for us. …Pray that the Lord will show us what to do and where to go.” (Jeremiah 42:2-3 NLT). And then they boldly make this simple declaration:
“May the LORD your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do! (Jeremiah 42:5 NLT)
Through Jeremiah, God says (in essence), “Stay put. Obey me in this and I’ll take care of you.” And *what*, pray tell…*what* is the response?
Well, bottom line, it’s anything but what they promised. They accuse Jeremiah of lying and not only do they refuse to stay where God said stay, when they head off to Egypt, they take Jeremiah with them by force! It’s remarkable… just not all that unusual…and no place I want to be. “Lord, when I make a promise, let it be a promise I keep. Let my ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and my ‘no’ be ‘no’—plain and simple.”
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