Today's Scripture Reading (July 25, 2023): Jeremiah 43
I have a few pet peeves, and one of them is people
who ask for my advice and then promptly and consistently ignore it. Several
years ago, I was asked to meet with a couple who were going through some
marital problems. And I have employed various strategies in these situations,
but for this one, I decided to meet individually with the couple before we came
together to talk. In these individual sessions, I felt like I got a reasonably
good feel for the marital situation. And then we came together. I had developed
a couple of plans that I thought might help heal the differences that had
developed in the marriage, but when we began to talk together, neither of these
people was willing to admit what we had talked about when we were alone. In the
individual sessions, mountains were to be climbed to keep the relationship
healthy, but together, they denied anything wrong; and I felt like we had
wasted a lot of time. There was no fourth meeting, and the couple remain
together, so maybe they did know what was best.
I have developed a habit that whenever someone asks
me for advice, my response is, “Do you really want to know?” Because I won’t
pull my punches, if you are going to ask, I will tell you what I think. And you
can take it or leave it. But if you continue to ask my advice and consistently
ignore what I say, then I will begin to resent that you bother asking.
The people of Israel have come to Jeremiah to enquire
of God. What does God want us to do? Their commitment to Jeremiah is whatever God
tells you; we promise to follow the advice. So, Jeremiah tells them that God
wants them to stay in the Promised Land. If they did, God would heal them and
heal the land. He would take the remnant and build it into a nation. There was
no reason to fear Babylon; God was still in control.
But that wasn’t the advice that the people wanted to
hear. And so, despite their commitment, they chose to ignore the advice.
Obviously, Jeremiah was wrong. While they had committed to following what God
told them through the prophet, they meant they would follow any advice that matched
their desire. Give us that advice, and we will do it. But if God thinks
differently from me, well, I think I will trust what I believe is right.
There is an old joke about two people arguing about
the advantages of traditional and contemporary worship. And when they get to
the subject of the moving of the Holy Spirit in worship, one comments that “The
Holy Spirit is free to move in our services, as long as he doesn’t do anything
weird.” But that is part of the problem. The moves of God can often be weird, which
was precisely the problem in Judah. Escaping to Egypt made sense; staying in
Judah was weird. And the people were not about to follow any weird moves of
God.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 44 &45
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