In Jeremiah 42, the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem, and the vast majority of the Jews were either taken captive or killed, with only a tiny remnant remaining in the land. The prophet Jeremiah was among those who were left, and they came to him asking for God’s direction. They were living when God regularly spoke directly through His prophets, so their request was not out of order. They even guaranteed their obedience to God’s message, saying that whether they liked God’s answer or not, they would obey (Jer. 42:5-6).
What this remnant hid from Jeremiah was that they had already decided to go to Egypt no matter what God said. They lied to Jeremiah, and when Jeremiah went to God, God exposed their lies to him (Jer. 42:9-22). Jeremiah confronted them with God’s exposition, and they responded by accusing Jeremiah of lying to them (Jer. 43:1-4). The truth was that they did not like when their self-deceptive ways were exposed before all. They were so confident that God would tell them to go to Egypt that they would accept no other message as having come from God.
Do not become so sure of yourself and your own wisdom that you are unwilling to hear anything other than your own desires as you read God’s word. The Bible is designed to work in you (1 Thess. 2:13), to change your thinking (Rom. 12:1-2), to correct your misunderstandings (2 Tim. 3:16-17), and to propel you forward in godliness (2 Pet. 1:3; Titus 2:14). Come to God humbly, genuinely submissive to His will, and listen when His word grabs your ears for godly change, so that it may go well with you as you serve Him.
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