Human plans and the LORD’s warnings

Jer. 42:10-11; Prov. 19:21

The kingdom of Israel had fallen. The kingdom of Judah survived for roughly 135 more years. Towards its end, Jeremiah was prophesying the word of the LORD to the people of Judah. But the people and their king refused to listen to it. Jeremiah also suffered a lot: he was put into a cistern, imprisoned, ignored, shamed and many more. His writings were also burnt.

During the reign of Zedekiah, Babylon came and Jerusalem fell. Many of them were taken captives while “the poor people” were left behind. Among them was Jeremiah. Those left behind were so afraid of Babylon that they planned to flee and escape to Egypt. The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah who warned them against going to Egypt. He said, “ If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, as you have been; do not be afraid of him, says the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to rescue you from his hand. I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your native soil. But if you continue to say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ thus disobeying the voice of the Lord your God and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war, or hear the sound of the trumpet, or be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,’ then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to settle there, then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, in the land of Egypt; and the famine that you dread shall follow close after you into Egypt; and there you shall die” (Jer. 42:10-16).

The LORD wanted to establish His people, but they left for Egypt anyway. Some extrabiblical sources say that it was here that Jeremiah was stoned to death by some of his exasperated countrymen.

As they left for Egypt, without paying heed to the LORD’s warnings, the LORD punished them so much that many of them became lost. How important it is to heed the warnings of God.

What would we do and say in their situation? We would likely act as the Israelites did too. We would think that the ‘mighty’ Egypt would come to our aid and defeat the Babylonians. In other words, we would pin our hope on worldly strength, without listening to Jeremiah’s and the LORD’s warnings. We would depend on our own understanding, our own calculations and thinking.

Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.”

Just think, how many times would we have chosen our own paths without ever listening to the LORD? The LORD did not lead the Israelites only spiritually; He involved Himself in everything,in their society, economy, politics and so on.

Shouldn’t we also pay heed to the LORD in all our ways today too? We often kept the LORD and His Words inside the church, and do whatever we want outside. This could also be one of the reasons we felt really down as churches remain locked during this current pandemic.

The Israelites also failed to acknowledge God and listen to Him while God wanted to set them up again. They miserably failed in their plans.

Let’s conclude with Proverbs 19:21: “The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established.”