Once the Babylonians had defeated Jerusalem and taken the leaders into exile, they left a puppet king and government in place. Jeremiah was also left behind. The ones who had been left behind saw themselves as the "remnant."
There were factions among the remnant that believed that they could rebel and flee to Egypt. They believed that Egypt was powerful enough to resist and overcome the Babylonians.
They assumed that this was a logical plan and decided to ask Jeremiah to enquire of the Lord. Their assumption was that they would obtain a Divine RubberStamp for their plan.
Jeremiah came back with an unexpected answer: "God says 'No'"
From the chapters that follow, we know that they people didn't listen and dragged Jeremiah with them as their captive... It didn't end well.
Here Jeremiah is warning them of the judgement they are bringing on themselves. They asked for God's guidance and then they didn't want to take it. In some ways they'd have been better off if they hadn't asked...
The bottom line - if we are going to involve God in our plans, we should be very careful to be willing to do whatever He says - even if His answer is not what we expect.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@gracepresby.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
