"WAIT! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

June 2, 2011

"WAIT! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

Jeremiah 43

J.P. Holt

Central Truth

Sometimes God answers our prayers in unexpected ways. Even when we dislike or disagree with His response, we are still called to obey Him because He knows what is best for us.

Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are telling a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You are not to enter Egypt to reside there.'" (Jeremiah 43:2)

Jeremiah Taken to Egypt

1 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them, 2 Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ 3 but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— 6 the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 7 And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they arrived at Tahpanhes.

8 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: 9 “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. 12 I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. 13 He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

Have you ever prayed, "Lord, I pray that Your will be done in this situation," and as soon as you got an answer back, wished you had clarified your request a little bit before you said, "Amen?"

Not long ago, I ended a prayer about my uncertain job situation with those words and asked God for the courage to do whatever He told me. I did this expecting Him to open up other opportunities for me within my company, so imagine my surprise when I learned through a fateful meeting with my supervisor that God's answer was for me to leave the company altogether, effective immediately. In that moment I instantly regretted having made such an open-ended request. The first words out of my mouth were as much to God as they were to my boss, "You're joking, right?" I thought that either God had clearly misunderstood what I had asked or that the messenger was lying to me when he delivered the news.

In this passage we see that Azariah and Johanan asked God to reveal His plan to them about whether to move to Egypt or stay put in Judah. Because going to Egypt looked to them like the much safer option, they incorrectly assumed that God would agree with their reasoning and tell them to do just that. But when His answer didn't match what they wanted, they refused to believe Jeremiah and even accused him of lying to them. Rather than obey the clear response he received from God, Johanan took matters into his own hands and moved the Judahites to Egypt anyway, resulting in the promise of harsh judgment.

When I read stories like this, I typically get only halfway through the act of asking myself, "How could they possibly think that they knew better than God?" before realizing that sometimes, I have more in common with Azariah and Johanan than I'd like to admit. Thankfully, God is constantly reminding me that He knows best, and even if obeying Him doesn't always make sense at the time, it always pays off in the end.

1. Why do you think that Azariah and Johanan were so stubborn about wanting to go to Egypt? Can you relate to their reasoning?

2. Can you think of an example in your life when God's answer to your prayer was the exact opposite of what you wanted at the time? Looking back, how did things end up working out?

3. Verse 2 describes the men who didn't agree with God's answer to their prayer as "arrogant." What does that seem to suggest about why people often choose to disobey God?

4. What are you praying about this week? Are you willing to accept any answer God gives you, or do you plan to obey only if God tells you what you want to hear?

WEEKLY FAMILY ACTIVITY

JEREMIAH 40-44 (MAY 30-JUNE 3)

Read Jeremiah 44:1-10.

What did God repeat four times in this passage? (Hint: What were the people doing that made Him angry?) Why would He repeat it four times? What had the people not learned so far? (Verse 9)

Have you ever struggled with also doing the "wrong thing" over and over again?

What does He call us to do when we sin (i.e., do the wrong thing)?

How do you learn from your mistakes? What does it mean to repent?

What keeps you from repeating the same "wrong things" over and over again?

ACTIVITY: Get 24 blank note cards. You are going to create your own memory game. Have everyone make pictures on only one side of the cards. Remember to make matching pictures. Do all 12 sets. Then play the game together.

After playing, discuss the idea of learning from your mistakes. What did you do to help remember where the different pictures were? How would this help you learn to repent and do the right thing when you make mistakes in life?