Category: Jeremiah

Jeremiah 42: A Hard Heart and a Broken Promise

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do! Whether we like it or not, we will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us.”
-Jeremiah 42:5-6

Let me tell you the story behind the above quote. The Babylonians had conquered Israel (including Judah) as Jeremiah had predicted. A man named Johanan was now the leader of the Israelites after a brief civil war. They wondered what their next move should be, so they consulted with Jeremiah. As you can see, they promised to follow whatever the Lord told them to do.

Jeremiah prayed to God and received a word from Him. God’s instructions: Remain in the promise land. Do not flee to Egypt to escape the King of Babylon. Stay where you are and I’ll protect you; leave and you will be destroyed.

How did the people respond?
When Jeremiah had finished giving this message from the Lord their God to all the people, Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other proud men said to Jeremiah, “You lie! The Lord our God hasn’t forbidden us to go to Egypt! Baruch son of Neriah has convinced you to say this, because he wants us to stay here and be killed by the Babylonians or be carried off into exile.”
-Jeremiah 43:1-3

The people fled to Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with them. Jeremiah placed two stones near the Pharaoh’s palace and prophesied that the King of Babylon would come and have a throne at the very place he had placed the stones (Jeremiah 43:9-11). Their attempt to hide was futile—they would be slaughtered.

God’s people were so hard-headed! Sadly enough, the same thing still happens today.

I must admit that I have been the hard-head myself. There have been times when God made His instructions clear to me, but I wanted to do it my way. I’ve always ended up regretting my decisions when I did not listen to Him.

I’ve also seen this in the lives of my students. Sometimes they will ignore wise, biblical advice and instead listen to their friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, etc (who tell them what they want to hear). This is especially true with relationship advice. Whenever this happens, I know this student will regret his/her decision. He/She will come to me in tears some day. Regardless, there’s not much I can do.

Are you following God’s instruction once He has made it clear?

Jeremiah 27: No Easy Way Out

Sometimes I spend a few minutes listen to the counseling shows that air on late-night TV. The other night I was saddened by what I heard. A woman called in and described a nine-year relationship with a married man. They had a child together, yet she was stuck in the role of mistress. She said that she wanted a change in her life, but she loved him and found it difficult to leave him.

This of course, is a no-win situation for her. Suppose, for example, that the man left his wife and married her. How much security could she really have? What’s the point of marrying someone who does not honor marriage vows?

I thought about these types of situations while reading Jeremiah:

So you must submit to Babylon’s king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon’s yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the Lord. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it..
-Jeremiah 27:8

What in the world does this have to do with relationship choices? I’ll explain.

Jeremiah warned God’s people to turn away from their sins. The Israelites, however, were hard-headed. After repeated warnings, it was time for them to experience the consequences for their sins. Jeremiah explained that Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, would conquer them. They would have to spend 70 years in captivity before returning to Israel. God promised to bless those who would take their punishment and turn their hearts back to Him. Those who refused His judgment would suffer even more severe consequences.

We can be just like the Israelites. At times we want the easy way out—even when there isn’t one. Sometimes we spend months or years in a relationship that we know is not healthy. When we finally come to our senses, we want a one-day cure for our problem. We want a quick, pain-free, easy breakup. I often tell students something like this: “It took some time for you to put yourself in this situation. It’s going to take some time for you to get out of it and recover.”

God never promises that the right decision will be easy—especially if we’ve been ignoring His warnings. He does promise to bless us and give us strength as we return to Him.

If you are trying to make a tough choice, do not wait for it to get easier. It will probably only get harder. Make the right choice now, before you suffer even greater consequences.

Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism
will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.
-Proverbs 29:1

This is one of the many articles that you’ll find in my book: Basta Lovelife: Making Wise Relationship Decisions.