Jeremiah 42:8-12 (ESV Strong's)
8 Then he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.
When we Bear Under God’s Discipline, He Bears us Up!
Babylon has come and destroyed most of Judah. There is only a remnant in the land. God allowed this to happen to His people because they disobeyed His word. Everyone knows this. Jerusalem is destroyed because the people refused to obey God’s Word. So, now the remnant that are left come to Jeremiah to ask him what God would have them do. The above response is what God told Jeremiah to tell the remnant. They will, immediately, disobey God’s word, seek refuge in Egypt and, totally, disobey God’s instruction. The same thing that put them in this position will be the behaviors they display once more. They simply don’t learn that disobedience to God’s Word is to suffer discipline from God. But, note the word Jeremiah gives them. Babylon had taken almost everyone captive. They had done this on repeated raids on the land and on the city of Jerusalem. The remnant that had not, yet, suffered under cruel Babylon had every right to believe they would return to “finish the job.” The most basic and natural instinct of man is survival. It is doubtful that any of us would do any different. Yet, God tells them to endure under this threat and foreign agency and to give in to their power ... because it was God who sent them and God would control them. God is saying to them, “In the midst of struggle, trust my sovereign care over you ... I will bear you up!” Yet, they will not trust God and will seek refuge from other gods and other sources. The thing we have to trust in the midst of crisis and fear is not our normal logic. Instead we are to, by faith, trust in God and His logic. Fear stripes us of our natural logic. God transcends our fear based logic and provides us with a sure, certain and steadfast word we can trust. When we are in that crisis time we are to be steadfast, even more so, in trusting God’s certain word and promises.
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