Obey … Whether We Like It or Not!

Jeremiah 42; Jeremiah 43; Jeremiah 44; Psalm 48; Revelation 13
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Scripture

Jeremiah 42

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do! 6 Whether we like it or not, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we are sending you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us.”

9 He said to them, “You sent me to the LORD, the God of Israel, with your request, and this is his reply: 10 ‘Stay here in this land. If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you. For I am sorry about all the punishment I have had to bring upon you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon anymore,’ says the LORD. ‘For I am with you and will save you and rescue you from his power. 12 I will be merciful to you by making him kind, so he will let you stay here in your land.’

Jeremiah 43

1 When Jeremiah had finished giving this message from the LORD their God to all the people, 2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other proud men said to Jeremiah, “You lie! The LORD our God hasn’t forbidden us to go to Egypt! 3 Baruch son of Neriah has convinced you to say this, because he wants us to stay here and be killed by the Babylonians or be carried off into exile.”
4 So Johanan and the other guerrilla leaders and all the people refused to obey the LORD’s command to stay in Judah.

Observation

If these rebellious guerrilla leaders had just done what they said they would do then they would have been spared. They said that they would obey God whether they liked what God told them to do or not, but then when Jeremiah told them what God said they refused to obey … and they died.

Learning to obey God whether we like it or not is a huge lesson that all of us need to learn. Just look at something as simple as regularly attending church and you can see how easy it is for people to operate off of their feelings rather than a strong commitment to serving the Lord. The least little thing can cause them to stay home.

Many of our senior adults at our church will attend even if they are experiencing a lot of pain and are not feeling well they are still going to be in Sunday School and Worship. They are wonderful examples of obedience and faithfulness to the younger generation.

Application

I will obey whether I feel like it or not.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me to obey you no matter what. I pray that you direct my thoughts today and keep me focused on the promises in your Word. Show me what a Wonderful and Powerful God you are! I pray for the people around me that you bless them. I pray that our leadership would be filled with your Holy Spirit and that you would use them in mighty ways. Pour out your blessings on our church. Thank you for being so good to me. In Jesus Name Amen.

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