"Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.
Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God."
Jeremiah 42:5-6
This is part of an interesting story. So, the people seek out the prophet and they ask him to pray for them unto the Lord, and that they want to be accepted by him, and they promise to obey whatever God tells them to do. Who knows... at the time they asked, they may have even meant it.
Ten days later, however, when Jeremiah returns to them with instructions from God, it is very clear that they don't intend to follow God's commandments, which are very, very clear about not continuing in the direction they are going.
Reading this we think... wow, how crazy is it to go out of your way to ask God when you have no intention of following him? And yet, I think we do this same thing frequently. I don't think that we always know ahead of time that we are going to reject God's advice and rebel against his commands. We often think that the direction we favor is the only reasonable path, and that surely that is what God will recommend, so there should be no conflict... but when there is, we too often choose our way rather than God's.
Why? Well, perhaps a lack of faith. We can't see things God's way and we aren't willing to take his answer and trust it instead of what we think is right. Today, let's work on that. When God asks us to do something that we don't think will work, or that we can't do, let's work on trusting him anyway, and taking that next step. Maybe it will work, and maybe it won't, and maybe it will only work if we believe in it... but no matter what, we need some practice in trusting God instead of ourselves, so let's keep trying even when we get it wrong, and keep working on putting God's will before our own. If we keep at it, we'll learn, and maybe our faith will grow enough to take another step. :)
Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God."
Jeremiah 42:5-6
This is part of an interesting story. So, the people seek out the prophet and they ask him to pray for them unto the Lord, and that they want to be accepted by him, and they promise to obey whatever God tells them to do. Who knows... at the time they asked, they may have even meant it.
Ten days later, however, when Jeremiah returns to them with instructions from God, it is very clear that they don't intend to follow God's commandments, which are very, very clear about not continuing in the direction they are going.
Reading this we think... wow, how crazy is it to go out of your way to ask God when you have no intention of following him? And yet, I think we do this same thing frequently. I don't think that we always know ahead of time that we are going to reject God's advice and rebel against his commands. We often think that the direction we favor is the only reasonable path, and that surely that is what God will recommend, so there should be no conflict... but when there is, we too often choose our way rather than God's.
Why? Well, perhaps a lack of faith. We can't see things God's way and we aren't willing to take his answer and trust it instead of what we think is right. Today, let's work on that. When God asks us to do something that we don't think will work, or that we can't do, let's work on trusting him anyway, and taking that next step. Maybe it will work, and maybe it won't, and maybe it will only work if we believe in it... but no matter what, we need some practice in trusting God instead of ourselves, so let's keep trying even when we get it wrong, and keep working on putting God's will before our own. If we keep at it, we'll learn, and maybe our faith will grow enough to take another step. :)
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