Then all the military leaders, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached Jeremiah the prophet. They said, “Please pray to the LORD your God for us. As you can see, we are only a tiny remnant compared to what we were before. Pray that the LORD your God will show us what to do and where to go.” “All right,” Jeremiah replied. “I will pray to the LORD your God, as you have asked, and I will tell you everything he says. I will hide nothing from you.” 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! 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.” [Jeremiah 42.1-6]
These survivors in Judah sure made their request sound good. Really, they said all the right things - requested all the right things - and committed to the right things.
But they were only talking.
Question: Do you think these people asked Jeremiah to seek God for them with no intention of obeying? Maybe.
Or, do you think they were just being mindlessly religious, giving no real thought to what God's response and direction might be?
I think it is the latter. I think they knew what to say - what to ask God - and it made them feel good about themselves to "talk it up." However, like religion always is, their request was shallow and trite. When they heard what God revealed to Jeremiah, their previous "verbal" commitment meant nothing. Their pride and arrogance surfaced and revealed their true hearts.
I am afraid this is what so many of us do in Christian circles today. We sing our songs, maybe even cry at the sermons, but when it comes down to doing what God says, we simply don't. This reveals the true condition of Christianity today.
This reveals my condition today.
Father, forgive me for talking the talk and then refusing to walk the walk.
No comments:
Post a Comment