Seeking God's Approval Is Not the Same As Asking Him For Direction

Jeremiah 43:9-10 -"While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes.  Then say to them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them.

 

Johanan had broken his promise to God and Jeremiah.  He called Jeremiah a liar…and accused him of being a traitor…then forced all the people to go to Egypt.  He took everyone …men ….women ….children …and even Jeremiah’s scribe Baruch. They did not stop till they got to a town named Tahpanhes.

 

Jeremiah heard from God when they got there.  He told him to take some large stones…and bury them in the clay pavement at the entrance to the temple of the Egyptian gods. Then he told him to tell Johanan that Nebuchadnezzar was on his way to overthrow the very spot they chose to settle. 

 

We may think we know what we want. We may even have prayed for direction from God. But if we ignore the obvious words from Christian counsel and directions he gives us from the Bible…and go our own way…it will not go well in the end. Our prayer should not be one asking for God’s approval…it should be one that asks him what direction we should go. Why even ask God…if our minds are already made up?

 

I have been a Johanan before. I have twisted God’s plan for me so many times I can’t count them anymore. This story is a reminder to me to always consider carefully the people he sends me to give me advice. It is a reminder to me to always study his word for the direction he wants me to go. It is a reminder to me to always be flexible and listen to what he wants me to do.  My choices …what I think I should do…are not always what God wanted.  His plan is not always obvious.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to always keep an open mind. I need to seek your direction…and then wait for you to explain it to me with your Bible…and the godly people like Jeremiah you send to help me discern what you want me to do. Forgive me for the times that I have asked you what to do…and not even tried to listen…or even worse the times I have twisted your plans into what I thought they should be.  Help me to listen better…and understand more deeply what I read from your word…so that I can do exactly what you want me to from this moment on. Amen.