Do you like to wait?

 Jeremiah 42:7-22

Do you like to wait?  I must confess I’m not good at waiting.  Waiting is not something anyone wants to do when we need an answer to make a critical decision.  Can you imagine the rumors that are going around about the Babylonian army and how they are coming in the next few days to kill every living thing?  The leaders are being pressured, but they keep saying we need to wait on a word from God it will come any day now.  They may have put a runner outside of Jeremiah’s home with instructions to bring the news of what God has said to Jeremiah, for the people are about to rebel.

It has been ten days and the Lord has given Jeremiah the message for the leaders and the people, and this is the message. "This is what the Lord says, the God of Israel to whom you sent me to bring your petition before Him:  'If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will rebuild and not demolish you, and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you.  Don't be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear; don't be afraid of him'- [this is] the Lord's declaration-'because I am with you to save you and deliver you from him.  I will grant you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and allow you to return to your own soil.  But if you say: We will not stay in this land, so as not to obey the voice of the Lord your God, and if you say: No, instead we'll go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram's horn or hunger for food, and we'll live there, then hear the word of the Lord, remnant of Judah! This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: If you are firmly resolved to go to Egypt and live there for a while, then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels there to Egypt, and you will die there.  All who resolve to go to Egypt to live there for a while will die by the sword, famine, and plague. They will have no survivor or escapee from the disaster I will bring on them.”

Not one thing under the Sun has changed, man is the same as he was yesterday, and so is our God who changes not.  Have you noticed the promises God made to the remnant and God is telling them the way to walk, and it's not built on fear, but on His promises?  Promises of God will rebuild, God will plant, no reason to be fearful for God will be with them, and He will give the King of Babylon compassion for His people.  Those are the blessings, but it is always a choice, and they can choose blessing or curses, and they also are highlighted for all of us to see.

Why do you teach your children not to play in the street, why do you warn them about the dangers of sex out of marriage, and to stay away from drugs?  Could it be you love them, can you grasp how your pastor’s heart breaks when you and I pay no attention to the message and play in the street of sin?  If you understand, then you have a small understanding of the feelings going on in Jeremiah.  Listen to his words: “The Lord has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: 'Don't go to Egypt.' Know for certain that I have warned you today!  You have led your own selves astray because you are the ones who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, 'Pray to the Lord our God on our behalf, and as for all that the Lord our God says, tell it to us, and we'll act accordingly.'  For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in everything He has sent me to [tell] you.  Now therefore, know for certain that by the sword, famine, and plague you will die in the place where you desired to go to live for a while."

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice