Study from God’s Word… 2Kgs 25: 23-24 [Jer. 40: 7-10]; Jer 40: 11-16; 2Kgs 25: 25 [Jer 41: 1-3; Jer 41: 4-15; 2Kgs 25: 26 [Jer 41: 16-18]; Jer 41: 1-22; Jer 43: 1-13; Jer 44: 1-30; Jer 51: 64 … Passage for Reflection: Jeremiah 42: 19 – 20 … NIV "O remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, 'Do not go to Egypt.' Be sure of this: I warn you today 20 that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, 'Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.'
My Journal for Today: What a scenario. The remnant army officers in Judah come to Jeremiah because he is a recognized prophet of God; and they ask him to pray to God for direction now that they had killed the Babylonian appointed governor. Jeremiah prays and gives them God’s directions, which we read above in today’s text. But these hard heads are not having any of the truth; and they reject what Jeremiah brings to them from God; and off to Egypt they go.
My wife has a pet phrase. She says, “You can’t deal with dumb!” And she is so right. Why do we pray to God for direction when we have our mind made up ahead of time? The answer is PRIDE, the mother of all sin. When we look in a mirror, what we want to see is what we want to see, … not necessarily what we see. Hence, many who seek direction pray to God only to hear back from Him what they want to do anyway. And when the mirror reflects the truth, they either break the mirror in anger or deny it is reflecting truth; and these arrogant fools (the “dumb” ones in my wife’s estimation) go off and do what they had a mind to do anyway.
“You can’t deal with dumb!”
And are we much different than these dumb Judean soldiers? No; … I think not. So often we’re just looking to God for His blessing only on what we want to do rather than really looking into His mirror of truth. That’s why many people turn away from looking into God’s mirror of truth, His word. They’re only going to do what they want to anyway, in denial or defensiveness. And so the prideful sinner begins to isolate himself into self direction rather than the Savior’s direction.
We have a definite way to find God’s will; and that is through looking into His mirrors of truth … The Bible and through prayer (as Jeremiah was charged to do). But we’ve got to be willing to let God guide us when we seek His truth. And God’s word, Old and New Testaments, is clear (see Deut. 4: 9 and Matt. 7: 7-8). The man who seeks God with all His heart will find Him. The question becomes what is in our hearts when we go to God? Do we really seek the truth; or do we seek confirmation of our own selfish desires?
God is clear on the answer. If we seek His will and His way from His word, we will see His truth depicted in His mirror of truth. Seek Him; and we will find Him.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I seek after Your way. Amen
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