Here we go again: Jeremiah 42-43

The same pattern we saw during Zedekiah's reign (who started to free the slaves, then enslaved them again) and Jehoikim (who burned up the scroll upon which God's word was written) emerges again in these chapters. Now we hear it from the army officers and the people left in Judah (Jeremiah 42):

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. 6 Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God...

And their real response to God's word?(Jeremiah 43)
1 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God—everything the LORD had sent him to tell them- 2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You must not go to Egypt to settle there.' 3 But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, [a] so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon."
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the LORD's command to stay in the land of Judah.


These people continue to behave in the same pattern as their culture and role models. They seem to know nothing about trusting and obeying God -- but they know plenty about giving lip service to obedience, and then deciding on their own what God is or isn't telling them.

Why would they not behave that way? After all, they have been chasing false gods. And this behavior is fine if your god's are false -- if they are made up by you, then you CAN decide what they are saying. And the god can't do anything about it.

What they don't realize is that, when you're dealing with the Lord -- the one true God -- it is totally different. HE is REAL. He really has a will, and expresses it, and has the power to carry it out. And, when you disobey or ignore it, HE really does follow through with consequences.

False gods are so easy. So easy, and so powerless. So pleasant, and so worthless. So easy to get along with, and so impotent.

Once again, we see that it all comes down to this: Am I going to follow the Lord, the One True God, or not? Woe to the one who does not. But, Lord, I need help.

To quote the words of our Good Friday prelude:
Oh Savior of the world,
Who by thy cross and passion hast redeemed us,
Save us and help us we humbly beseech thee.
Save us and help us, oh Savior of the world.

Lord, have mercy on me. Save me and help me, oh savior of the world.