Failing at the Moment of Faith: Jeremiah 43

Jeremiah 43

Johanan was a hero—at least he tried to be. In service to God’s will that the Judeans stay in the Promised Land in the face of all odds, Johanan tried to stop a plot against their leader’s life, and when that failed, he pursued the assassins and ran them off. When Judah’s social structure was thin at best, Johanan was a man who stood for the strength of his people and the will of God in their lives.

Circumstances, however, have a way of changing a person’s outlook. When the dust settled, Johanan was left in charge of a motley group of Judeans without any kind of political or military structure to speak of and looking at the potential of Babylon’s wrath. And into this situation he asks Jeremiah, God’s prophet, to tell him what God wants them to do. It turns out that though they want to flee to Egypt, God wants them to trust Him and stay in Judah.

So how does our hero respond? “Johanan…and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, ‘You are telling a lie.’”(vs. 2)

Where does this shocking response come from? Before we get to that question, I think we can benefit from reading Johanan’s reasoning. He actually gives two reasons why he doesn’t believe the word of Jeremiah.

First of all, what Jeremiah spoke was not the Word of God: “The Lord our God did not send you to say.” (vs. 2) This is, in all reality, a common response to the Word of God when it does not fit our preconceived categories or our comfort zones. We like to say that the Word of God is not actually the Word of God. If we allow God to speak into our lives from His point of view, that word will be, from time to time, uncomfortable or difficult. Our ears like to hear what we already “know” and what we already “understand.” Being a disciple of Christ, however, means allowing Him to teach me to see and know the way He does. After all, I may be one who has ears and cannot hear, who has eyes but cannot see. (Matt. 13:15)

Secondly, Johanan attributes the sacred Word of God to the scheming of just a man: “but Baruch…has set you against us.” (vs. 3) Any conspiracy in a storm will do, I guess. If we shift the voice we hear from the heavens to a common, ordinary man, we can take and leave what we will and stand as judge over the words spoken. When the words of Scripture become just the words of other humans, I am just as competent to judge and interpret those words as the composer.

Ultimately, Johanan failed at a moment of faith. He showed a great deal of faith and resolve in the past, but later, when they were in a very tight spot and that faith would have done him a world of good, he decided to look elsewhere for his wisdom. Past success in faithfulness does not guarantee a future of the same. The Christian life is one of constant attention and diligence. Satan is ready to devour believers (which he usually does slowly, bite by bite) and we need to be moving forward in our discipleship even when we have times of great success.

Six centuries later, the Apostle Paul reflects on stories like Johanan’s and has this advice to give us:

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction.…Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor. 10:11-12)

God and Making Decisions: Jeremiah 42

Jeremiah 42:8-22

In this passage the people of Judah stand at a crossroads, and on the cusp of a major decision. Their nation has been decimated by Babylon and torn further by internal strife. There are very few of them left and their governor has been assassinated. To the south lies the nation of Egypt where they believe they can find a stable nation, economy and society to protect them from the revenge of the dreaded and unstoppable Babylonian army.

Into this crisis steps Jeremiah with the word of God. The people asked Jeremiah for God’s advice, and, after ten days of waiting, Jeremiah returned. That the answer is not what the people wanted to hear we can gather from God’s take on the situation. In verses 13-14, God knows their thoughts that Egypt appears to them to be a place, “where [they] will not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread.” God’s people see no hope in Judah, and placed all their hope in Egypt.

God is also clear about something else. He tells them in no uncertain terms that if they stay in Judah, He will take care of them. Notice how often God uses the personal pronoun in verses 10-12. God tells them things like, “I will build you up,” “I will plant you,” “I relent of (grieve for) the disaster,” “I am with you to save you,” and “I will grant you mercy.”

God promised them two things. If you stay here in the land I have given you, I will be your guardian and savior. And secondly, if you go to Egypt, you will all perish one way or another. So which decision do the people make and why? They went directly to Egypt because staying in Judah just seemed too hard and way too unreasonable. But when God is involved, the decision making process should be entirely different. One pastor put it this way, “Many things that seem risky are actually quite safe….It is safe to do these things provided they are done in obedience to God. No matter how frightening it may seem at the time, it is always safest to obey God.” In a culture that often tells us just the opposite, it is safe to sacrifice for God, to give financially to God, to get married, to raise a family, to move your life across the world in service to God.

What is God telling us about what is crucial in our decision making as His children? God, not what is before our eyes, should be the primary factor in our decision-making. There will be times when what looks like the reasonable decision is also God’s path for us, but we should make that choice based on God’s wisdom and direction, not just our own.

Even though there are places and decisions that seem to offer everything I want and need, including a future of promise and hope, any real hope I have is to follow the wisdom and word of God. The decision of faith in our lives, if done in obedience to God, will always lead us down the right path where we can find that God is with us, where He will plant and build us, where He will grant us His mercy, and where He will save us.