Self preservation over obedience
The Judean remnants found themselves in a predicament having been spared from the Babylonians and still facing the threat of anhilation from the Babylonians. They look to God for help but they are surprised by God’s response. Will they obey God? Lets find out
People’s Request to God:
Jer 42:1–3–1 …all the people from the least to the greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant — because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us — 3 that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.”
Jer 42:5,6 — 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”
God’s response:
Jer 42:9–14 — 9 …and (Jeremiah) said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. 13 But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the LORD your God 14 and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’
Response from people:
Jer 43:2 … all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’
God responds:
Jer 43:10–11 — 10 … Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword.
From people’s view this is absolutely insane — “Why would God want us to go through death and destruction. Should’nt we be protecting ourselves? The Babylonians are sweeping every nation. Who can stand against them. We (Judeans) dont stand a chance. Egyptians, we’re sure can resist them incase they confront them. We have a better chance of survival with the Egyptians than here in Judea”
How far will we be from the shoes of these Judean remnants? Dont we take similar steps to protect ourselves? Steps to distance ourselves from getting too close to our fellow believers lest we get hurt from the rough edges of their behavior; steps to avoid discipling one another lest they might reject us. Through all of these steps we forget that we have the freedom in Christ to love back inspite of relational messiness or rejection. All we need to do is to take those moments of hurt to Jesus and ask for a bigger heart to love back. This is possible only in Christ. We do not have the ability to love like that so lets not try to be a disciple of Jesus in our own strength.
Let us be reminded by the words of Paul from Galatians — “2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal 3:2,3)
