Jer
44:25b-28 (NIV) "Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows! 26
But hear the word of the Lord, all Jews living in Egypt: 'I swear by my great
name,' says the Lord, 'that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will
ever again invoke my name or swear, "As surely as the Sovereign Lord
lives." 27 For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in
Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed. 28 Those
who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very
few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose
word will stand — mine or theirs.
NOTE: The Jews had
made vows to foreign gods in an attempt to save themselves from disaster. It reminds me of the torches that Isaiah
prophesied against when he said "But now, all you who light fires and
provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in
torment" (Isa 50:11). Israel had
once again sought a solution to their problems that did not include the God of
the universe, and God says "fine."
God says in similar words, to follow through on your solution to the
problem, but let me warn you what to expect, you will experience
"harm" and "torment."
God is more than willing to let us live our lives apart from him, but he
warns us of the disaster that awaits us.
That is why Jesus' response to disasters and evils of life was to tell
us to "repent, for we too will die."
It is not the way God intended life to go when he created us in the
garden, but it is what we chose. And it
is amazing to see how many shake their fists at God today, even though we are
experiencing exactly what we chose.
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