Day 780: Running from the Lord! - Jeremiah 43 vs 1 - 13

1-3 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God, with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and 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’, but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” 4-7 So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven - the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at Tahpanhes.

8-10 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 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. 11-13 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. I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’” Jeremiah 43:1-13 English Standard Version

There's a book in the Bible about a man named Jonah who God instructed to go and warn the citizens of the city of Nineveh of His coming judgment on their sinful ways. But Jonah took off to a place called Joppa and found a ship about to sail for Tarshish, the opposite direction to Nineveh! He paid money and got on the ship to get away from the Lord. (Jonah 1:1-3) He was running from God. In his case God caused a mighty storm which threatened to sink the vessel. Today's verses in Jeremiah describe how the people who'd asked Jeremiah to seek God's will for their lives flatly rejected the answer he gave because God's will did not fit their plans! And they feared the Babylonians more than they feared God.

Instead of trusting God and staying in the land of Judea, they set off in the hope of finding safety in Egypt, a land full of pagan idols. So Jeremiah was told by God to set up some stones in a prominent public place with a message of how He was going to respond to their rejection of His word. (vs 8-10) What was the fate of Egypt – and so their fate too – going to be? (vs 11-13)

Pharaoh and Egypt were going to fall to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army and the rebellious people would experience the hardships and sorrows that such conquests brought. If they’d remained in Judea, as God told them to do, they would’ve been spared Egypt's fate. The lesson is clear. Running from God is foolish. He who can raise up a mighty ocean storm, or who can empower one nation to overthrow another nation, is not someone we can escape from. We don't always know God's will when it comes to decisions we must make regarding choices we face, such as shall I accept this job offer or that one? But He has shown His will for us in His word as to how we should daily live in this world. We are called to be God fearing and holy. We are called to do all that Jesus taught. May we be those who always obey the voice and the word of the Lord.