Lessons In Prayer, Faith And Obedience

Jeremiah 41:16-42:22                                 Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 42:6                                            4-3-18

“Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God.”

Dear Lord, illumine my heart and mind with your word. Reveal more of who you are to me. Help me to grow spiritually through a study of your word. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Inquire Of God’s Will Through Prayer (41:16-42:6)

Verses 16-42:6, “6 Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led away all the people of Mizpah who had survived, whom Johanan had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam—the soldiers, women, children and court officials he had recovered from Gibeon. 17 And they went on, stopping at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt 18 to escape the Babylonians. They were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.

42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached 2 Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please hear our petition and pray to the Lord your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left. 3 Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”

4 “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will certainly pray to the Lord your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the Lord says and will keep nothing back from you.”

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. 6 Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God.”

Johanan became the leader of the remnant. He had tried to help Gedaliah but had failed. But he also was previous associated with Ishmael in his opposition to the Babylonians. His heart was right, but now he feared reprisal because of the assassination of Gedaliah. Some Babylonian soldiers had also been killed. He decided to gather the remnant of people left in Judah and flee to Egypt.

I can understand his fear. It was very unlikely that the Babylonian leaders would listen to him. Most likely, he would be tried and sentenced to die a miserable death in order to set an example for the rest of the people, that they may never, ever raise a fist against the Babylonians. Johanan wanted to run and escape to Egypt. It made sense, humanly.

But before he went, he sought God’s direction. They asked Jeremiah to pray to God for direction and wisdom. They said that they would do whatever God told them to do. Look at chapter 42:1b-3. They, “…approached 2 Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please hear our petition and pray to the Lord your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left. 3 Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.” I am very impressed about their desire to inquire of God. Most people would have abandoned all hope and ran for the hills. But God planted in their hearts a desire to seek the will of God. It shows that their hearts are in the right place. It also shows that the people have grown spiritually through their sufferings. They have seen so much suffering. You might think that they should be basket cases by then. But their suffering had an opposite effect. They sincerely sought the will of God.

When God is with us in our suffering we grow spiritually and we seek the Lord in our hardships. With faith we grow stronger in our hearts. We are not worn down, rather, we are built up in God. That is one of the big differences of having faith and not having faith.

I am impressed they sought answers through prayer and consultation. Johanan and his officers could have just prayed on their own, but they went to Jeremiah and sought his opinion and his prayer support. One might say, “Well that is how it was done in the Old Testament times. Jesus opened the way for us to come straight to God in prayer.” Yes, it is a gift and a privilege to go straight to God in prayer. But I have experienced over and over again the wisdom of talking about things with other Christians and seeking their prayer support. God works this way to answer prayer.

Jeremiah promised them that he will pray for them. He also assured them that he would speak the truth to them, no matter what the truth was. Look at verse 4.  “I will certainly pray to the Lord your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the Lord says and will keep nothing back from you.” (4) Jeremiah really did pray for people when they asked him to. He also prayed for ten days. He brought it all before the Lord. He spoke the hard truth. He was a faithful and true servant of God.

How easy it is to make prayer a cliché. “please pray for me” people ask us. We say “yes” and fail to do so. I pray that God may help me to pray for others as Jeremiah did for his people.

The people were also very sincere. Look again, what they said to Jeremiah in verses 5-6, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. 6 Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God.” They committed themselves to obey the Lord, no matter what the outcome.

They linked faith, trust and obedience to God as the way for things to go well with them. Wow! That is amazing. What sincerity. People tend to search for answers anywhere else but God. But we need to remember the words of Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  

Johanon and the army officers committed themselves to listen to and to obey God. This is taking on a big responsibility. It is like taking vow. What if God’s direction was too hard for them to embrace? I am not sure if I would make such a promise for I know that I am not able to obey the Lord as I should. We pray to God and he answers. Are we ready to obey his direction even if we don’t like it or agree with it? I pray that God may strengthen me to do the right thing in light of his word.

Part 2: Be Ready To Obey God’s Will When He Answers  (42:7-22)

Verse 42:7-22, “7 Ten days later the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest. 9 He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: 10 ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you. 11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the Lord, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. 12 I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’

13 “However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the Lord your God, 14 and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,’ 15 then hear the word of the Lord, you remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, 16 then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. 17 Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’ 18 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach; you will never see this place again.’

19 “Remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today 20 that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’ 21 I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. 22 So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.”

Jeremiah prayed for ten days, and the word of the Lord came to him. This is really sincere. He prayed for ten days! That is praying “to the end”. It is praying until he finished. We pray once and quit. He prayed for ten days. He waited for an answer from God. What does that mean? It means that he prayed until God granted him a calm confidence and assurance in his heart. There was no ambiguity…no confusion…only clear direction from God to his people. “Lord, help me to go the length with prayer, until you grant an answer.”

This is so true about prayer. Since I have become a Christian, I have always been involved in missionary work. We prayed regularly for the work of God. Sometimes God answers quickly and sometimes after a long time. But he always answers. When we pray there will be a calm assurance in our hearts that God has answered prayer. God will make certain events happen that confirm his answer to prayer. We need to pray until God answers.

Frequent prayers are not to be used to convince God to act. Some people think that if they pray a thousand times, then God is somehow obligated to answer their prayers. But God has his own will in every matter. Prayer is communicating with God. Prayer is seeking to find and obey God’s will.

The answer he received was not what Johanan and the others may have wanted. God said, “Don’t go to Egypt. Stay in this land; don’t fear the Babylonians and he would protect them and bless them.” He also warned them that if they went to Egypt to escape war and famine, both war and famine would find them there.

It really was hard to obey this direction. It seemed easier to run into the desert of Egypt and hide and possibly seek protection from the Egyptian army. The hardest thing was to stand before the Babylonians and trust God that they would be shown mercy. God always wants his people to learn faith through all that they experience.

Faith lessons from God are not easy. They are meant to grow faith. They are meant to grow us stronger as his people. How does an oak tree’s roots go deep into the ground? It is the wind that pushes the trees back and forth. The wind stimulates the roots to go down deep. Difficult faith lessons are like wind. They help us to take deep roots in the Lord.

God told them the importance of saying you are going to obey and not doing it. Look at verses 19b and 20, “‘…Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today 20 that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.” The point is, if they were not going to obey, it would have been better not to ask God at all. Prayer is not a joke. Feigning obedience is not a joke either. We must come to God with a sincere heart that is ready to obey the direction that God gives. The answer is , “yes” many times over.

But then we must ask ourselves, “Is there any direction that goes against my human rationale? Is there a will of God that doesn’t seem to make sense or seems too hard to obey?”

It is not easy to be so sincere. We feign obedience to God often. We are not able to carry through with our declarations. We cannot obey the revealed will of God to us. These are some of the reasons that we need a savior. We need forgiveness. Jesus does not treat us as our deeds deserve. We should experience curses because of our disobedience. But we don’t get that. We get forgiveness. We get grace. We may experience some hardships to grow us and mature us in faith. But that is God’s love. It is the wind that helps an oak tree to grow strong with deep roots. Thank God for Jesus who does not treat us as our sins deserve but strengthens us instead.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you for teaching more about prayer. Help me to pray to find your will and obey it. Help me to pray for others until a calm assurance comes into my heart. “

One Word: Seek God’s will through prayer and consultation and obey it