Jeremiah 42:1-3 - Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah,
and all the people from the least to the greatest approached Jeremiah the prophet and said to him,
"Please hear our petition and pray to the LORD your God for
this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once
many, now only a few are left. Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where
we should go and what we should do."
The people finally wised up and went to ask Jeremiah to pray
for them. They even promised him they would do what God said…no matter what. He
prayed for 10 days to ask God to give him directions to help these people who
were running scared. God gave him a clear answer…stay in this land…stop running….let
God protect them from the Babylonian king and farm the land there.
God knew that they would think that was the wrong advice…so
he added what would happen if they continued on to Egypt. They would increase
God’s fury and anger…and bring curses of great magnitude upon themselves. He
even let Jeremiah’s last words to them be a statement that he already knew they
would not keep their promise to do whatever God told them.
What a great reminder to never ask God’s guidance if we have
no intentions of following what he tells us. God sees straight down to our toes…and
knows our promise is empty as the words leave our lips. Sometimes we pray for
his direction….but struggle way more than 10 days to get an answer. Perhaps we
are not rigorous enough in our request….perhaps he has already answered and the
sameness of our situation confuses our brain to think he hasn’t told us what to
do.
We sometime expect God to move in ways that we think require
huge changes…when God’s plan is sometimes just to stay where he has already
planted us. Perhaps he is training us
for a later job….or just aligning other pieces of his plan for us…or just seeing
if we have the faith and trust to wait for him.
It’s a reminder to me that God’s 10 days…might be 10 months…or even 10
years on his timeline.
Father…thank you for the reminder that I should always seek
your guidance and direction. Forgive me
for complaining sometimes that my wait time is longer than I think I can bear.
Forgive me for not seeing my wait time as an answer in itself. Help me to see the reason behind the waiting…and
rest completely in your timing. Help me
to see the way you are strengthening me for whatever lies ahead. Amen.
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