A Rare Moment

 Jeremiah 42:1-6

The chapter begins in this way; “Then all the commanders of the armies, along with Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached Jeremiah the prophet and said, “May our petition come before you; pray to the Lord your God on our behalf, on behalf of this entire remnant (for few of us remain out of the many, as you can see with your own eyes), that the Lord, your God, may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do.”  If you are a Jeremiah this could be a watershed moment, for he is not called the weeping prophet for no reason, he is yet to have a convert.

The exchange between the leaders and the people from Jeremiah; “So Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. I will now pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and every word that the Lord answers you I will tell you; I won’t withhold a word from you.”  Jeremiah must have a little hope that these stiff-necked people finally got smart, but I’m sure that with all the history he has experienced with them he refuses to allow his emotions to put trust in such people.  My pastor one Sunday, referred to a large magnet at the doors going out of the church that removes all that God has spoken to us before we leave the building.  My friend Carroll Ray Jr. would say, we have a preacher filter that tells us that is what a pastor is supposed to say, and so we dismiss the message. 

The reply of the people and their leaders; “And they said to Jeremiah, “As for every word the Lord your God sends you to tell us, if we don’t act accordingly, may the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us. Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you so that it may go well with us. We will certainly obey the voice of the Lord our God!”  Now that sounds like a group of believers we would like to be part of, pleasant or unpleasant we will obey the voice of the Lord our God.  That has got to move the bubble of Jeremiah’s emotions; it sure sounds like they as a people have seen the light.

Now some bad things have taken place, and everyone knows that the Babylonian king is not going to sit idle, nor is he going to dismiss what has happened to his Governor and soldiers, and the fear is building.  But God does not seem in any hurry to give Jeremiah His answer, in fact, it’s ten days before it comes.  Have you experienced God’s slowness at times in answering your prayers, and do you often choose to go ahead with what seemed like a sound mind principle?

Tomorrow we will look at God’s response to Jeremiah and the people and their leader's answer.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice