- And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at Tahpanhes. Jeremiah 43:7 – In the previous chapter we see the people and leaders within Judah reaching out to Jeremiah to have him seek out the Lord’s direction on what to do next after Babylon had come in and wiped out Jerusalem. Jeremiah told them the words of the Lord was to remain in Jerusalem, build lives there, and serve the Babylonians, but that’s not what the people wanted to hear. They wanted to go to Egypt, the place that looked peaceful and plentiful to their eyes. So instead of obeying the word of God, everyone packed up and left for Egypt. Interesting isn’t it that the place the people are disobeying God to go to is the very place God rescued them from many years prior. Egypt was their source of slavery for centuries and their lives were forever changed when God freed them from their Egyptian chains. Yet now they believe they’ll find more in their place of past slavery then following the God who rescued them. While seemingly ridiculous to us on this side of the pages, how often are we making some of the same moves we see the people here make? God recused us from certain sins, and while He is telling us not to return back to those sins, we choose to go back to them believing we’ll actually get something we need from them. This didn’t work out well for the people of Judah, it hasn’t worked out well for us in our past when we did this, so why should we suppose now we will find a different outcome? We will never find what we are looking for returning back to the sin God saved us from. However God is leading, follow that path, and never find yourself walking down the path of sin you once walked. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3273
- 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” Jeremiah 43:2- Please don’t behave like these people. They asked for God to direct them, they got the directions, then followed their own path. We can do this as well. We have a question concerning the faith, maybe wondering if something is right or wrong to do. So we seek out scripture and advice from those more mature in the faith. They both say it’s wrong, but we want it to be right so we believe what we think over what they both said. We must be willing to let go of our preferences sometimes when it comes to how we want to live our life. Some of those ways are harmful to us and will lead us to horrible things, we just don’t have the eyes yet to see what those ways are leading us to. God does though have those eyes to see. He’s going to use scripture and those further along in their walk than you to help you see what you don’t see right now. Be willing to listen and be willing to change direction in life if that’s what shared with you to do. Keep in mind that God wants to give you life, not take it from you. If He gives you a direction, it’s wholly for your good. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 962
- Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: Jeremiah 43:8 – Jeremiah was asked to search out God’s direction for the people. He did and he shared that God was directing them not to go to Egypt but to remain where they were. The leaders though rejected the message of God through Jeremiah and went to Egypt anyways, taking Jeremiah with them. What we see though in our verse is that God’s word still came to Jeremiah while in Egypt. Sometimes due to the choices of others and due to situations out of our control, we can find ourselves in places God would direct us away from. Know God understands your heart of desiring faithfulness to Him and His ways and you are in that spot not due to purposeful disobedience. He sees your heart and like with Jeremiah will still speak and use you in that spot. In whatever place you find yourself in, whether you got there by steps of your own or the actions of others, seek faithfulness to the Lord and He will use you for His glory. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac- Daily DEVO 2175
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