19 “Listen, you remnant of Judah. The Lord has told you: ‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Don’t forget this warning I have given you today. 20 For you were not being honest when you sent me to pray to the Lord your God for you. You said, ‘Just tell us what the Lord our God says, and we will do it!’
- Jeremiah 42
4 So Johanan and the other guerrilla leaders and all the people refused to obey the Lord’s command to stay in Judah.
- Jeremiah 43
Is there something that GOD is telling you not to do, so clearly you know deep down in your heart that you are not supposed to do it. But then your will is really strong within you to do what is opposite from that which GOD wants. You will know when it is not right because there will be no peace within you. But it is so strange how strong human will is. What made the Israelites disobey GOD? It is only logical to think that we need to run away from our enemies. Yet GOD is telling them to submit to them. This is very difficult to do because they fear that their enemies will surely end their lives. But GOD told them a very wild thing that surely most of them think it would be suicide to submit to their enemy the Babylonians, but this is exactly what GOD is telling them to do.
There's only two responses to this: Trust GOD or Trust their instinct. Sadly they trusted their own reasoning and instincts that they went their way to Egypt, where GOD told them not to go. What made them hard headed and stubborn? GOD had told them no, yet they go their way anyway. What had caused them to be calloused in their hearts? Before the threats, they have already been disobeying GOD by burning incense to their idols. This was the beginning of their rebellion. But in GOD's mercy, He still warned them for the last time to not do what they are thinking in their hearts to do. Maybe GOD was hoping that they would somehow change their minds. A lot of them may have been afraid of GOD's warning but their hearts are already bound to the gods of Egypt that they chose to go the place where all the idolatry had begun. Hard heartedness does not happen overnight. Hearts are hardened by the little things we do everyday that hurt GOD. Check your heart. Do not be like the remnants of Judah. Which god do you spend most of your time with? It doesn't have to be a literal idol, it can be a hobby, work, a dream or a person. For what we devote most of our time to everyday is what our heart secretly worships.
