We Will Obey

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

With leadership in disarray, any nation is ripe for a coup d’état. Outside forces watch and wait for opportunities to converge and they set their sights on taking over a nation, or a corporation, or a State, county, or a neighborhood. This, is history repeated over and over again. “Conquer, or be conquered!”

True leadership will restore order and a sense of security for the people. But in Chapter 42 of Jeremiah, the new leader, Johanan is sought out, and by-passed for Jeremiah the Prophet. It is a good thing to see that the Jews were willing to seek out God’s Word, and have Him reveal His plans for them.

But even the Word of God is not enough for some, and the Jews among whom Jeremiah lived, were the same “stiff-necked” people as ever. Self-willed, and sticking together for strength in numbers, they forget that this same path was what brought the judgment of God upon their entire nation.

Suppose that it is our faith that is in disarray. We question our “Leader” and His ability to provide security and safety? Our enemy and His, is waiting and watching for the right moment. Avoiding or rejecting God’s counsel will inevitably end with our vulnerability to a personal spiritual “coup” to take place. Is this too not the same throughout history? The head of Liberty College was just removed because he compromised his faith. These are simple, practical lessons for us, and for our country. The application is both narrow for individuals, and broad for entire nations.

The nation that rejects God, and keeps Him away from its children, its youth, and its citizens cannot maintain its independence and liberty. God’s enemies are rioting in our streets, and they also riot in the heart of mankind. For them, freedom means the removal of all authority over them.

True liberty, however, comes with the removal of fear, and from an orderly society able to hear the Holy Spirit. Clamoring and destructive riots bring fear to the people. That’s not freedom, nor is it liberty, for our liberty comes from God.

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.~ 2 Corinthians 3:17 ~

Today's Audio Message: "We Will Obey"

There is something to be said about fear and predetermined thoughts when seeking the Lord. Johanan wants to flee to Egypt, but seeks counsel from Jeremiah first. While they are wise to seek the Lord, are they ready to obey what God asks? “Pray for us, we will do whatever God asks.” Jeremiah goes off to seek the Lord, and as 10 days go by, perhaps patience is wearing thin. It seems that Johanan and those with him had already determined the direction they wanted to go. The call to trust and obey was not what they wanted to hear. The Lord challenged them once again to obey Him, and He also warned them of the danger of following their own counsel, and walking their own way. Destruction will surely follow them. They wanted what seemed to be the easy path. You would think by now they would get it, but like many of us, they are a stubborn and rebellious people. Johanan trusts in his own thoughts and follows his own ways instead of the Lord's.

Then Were They Glad

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

In 2018, the terrorist group Al Qaeda was in disarray with its leadership gone and no one to take their place. Though leadership was absent, the ideology was not. Enter “The Arab Spring,” a period of time when people of Arabia organized a bit more, and tried to bond together with other people of the Muslim faith from Egypt to Iran.

Any time there is a void in a nation’s leadership, you can be sure that some group or person will be raised up among the people to fill the void. Good, bad, or indifferent, the void will be filled. We can see it in the headlines today, and in the historical events of the past. Of such is today’s study in Jeremiah 41; a historical record of a perceived weakness in Governance, or jealousy from someone that perceives they were overlooked, when they had a bloodline right to leadership.

At the core of it all is pride, a thing which the Lord hates, according to Proverbs 6. The rejection of leadership that the Lord has put in place will surely end in infighting and disagreement as to whom has “the right” to sit on a throne of power. The family line has been broken, and jealousies develop concerning who deserves to be sitting on the throne. Former TV hostess Barbara Walters could accurately say, “Welcome, This Is 20/20.”

As King Solomon is recorded to have said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” As Jeremiah is quoted, “The (human) heart is deceitful and desperately wicked: who can know it?” This is the backdrop of the text today: Fighting against the will of God and His agents will bring terrible results to the rebellious, and good results to the People of God. 

It’s obvious even from the history of the Jews that having a right does not make one righteous before the Lord. One may be next in line to the throne, and still prove to be an evil ruler.

Pick a nation, any nation. The events in this chapter are common to all. Revealed is the heart of man as he compares himself to others. Mankind is a fickle lot, and trust from one generation to the next can be unfruitful and detrimental. Don’t look at what they say, but watch what they do.

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” - Matthew 7:20

Today's Audio Message: "Then Were They Glad"

Chapter 41 of Jeremiah is a tragic story showing how evil pursues sinners. 1 Peter 5:8 warns us to, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil , as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

Previously, we had learned that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah a great man, he had given him a commission as governor of the land which he had conquered to secure and protect the land, and the remnant of Judah left behind. As the people transition under new leadership, the enemy sees their weakness and is readying himself at their doorstep.

Ishmael, being of the royal seed of David, sought revolt. Jealousy and pride would drive this man on a killing streak that would shock even the most hardened criminal. His entitlement of royal blood would fuel him to stop at nothing in reversing the absolute humility that came from the Babylonian invasion. Through cunning deception, and under the pretense of friendship, he would go on a treacherous murdering streak killing Gedaliah, the Jews that were with him, the Chaldeans, and the men of war. His ruthlessness was not just contained to this event. Pretending to be in mourning, he went on his next slaughtering expedition killing more, and taking captive the people who survived living in Mizpah.

In this historical political drama of the time, no matter how entitled we think we are to something, it should never rule above the authority of God in our lives. Ishmael is ruled by his own pride. He takes matters into his own hands refusing to trust the plan of God. We may not always understand the plan of God, but we must never fight against it.

Gedaliah will be murdered because he did not believe the warnings of Johanan. Similarly, we too can become indifferent to the warnings the Lord is giving us, and in the end, we can let our guard down to be overtaken in sin and the consequences thereof - captivity. When we find ourselves in these circumstances we may consider returning to that which we have been delivered from. Much like the Israelites, we camp on the border of our own Egypt. When things unexpected happen, or we are thrown by some horrific circumstance, we must continue to maintain our relationship with God, being deeply intimate with Him as we wade into what is unfolding before us.

God is faithful still. He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bare. He will make a way of escape!

The Remnant Of Judah

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

 A bit of an Epilogue to the previous chapter, today we see how obedience is rewarded as God takes the remnant left behind and sets into motion the keeping of the land for future generations.

The losses are real. Thousands were carted off to Babylon. Neighborhoods were destroyed, and landmark buildings plundered. But all these things were built by the hand of man, and God’s land remained. God promised that the people would return to the land, so when that happened, what would they find, were it not for the remnant left there? 

Since the time of Jeremiah’s being called of God to be a prophet to the people, Jeremiah remembered the words of God concerning Jeremiah’s purpose: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 

I can’t imagine anyone forgetting a conversation with God like that! During his 41 years of ministry, he warned the Jews and surrounding kingdoms of God’s plan, “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant” Jeremiah 1:10 

With the first part of his mission sadly complete, when given his freedom, Jeremiah knew his work was not finished. Re-building and planting was yet to be accomplished so that “the old paths” were in place, and established for when the People came home to the land given to their fathers. The remnant would tend it and keep it. 

From warnings, to encouragement, a prophet’s work is never really done. God will never leave His people without hope. For an entire nation of Prodigals, there will be always be something to come home to.

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Genesis 2:25

Today's Audio Message: "The Remnant Of Judah"

Though the script of history changes a bit, the characters remain the same. There’s the faithful obedient servants of God, and there’s the stiff necked, disobedient rebels. Those who follow God and His ways, and those who follow their own way. We know what happened to disobedient Judah, God’s promised judgment had come.

Today we will see how obedience is rewarded, and how God works all things together for the good of those who trust Him (Romans 8:28). The king is carried off into Babylon, and the servant is saved!

We meet a Babylonian captain who basically preaches to the children of Israel the very things that Jeremiah had preached to them for 40 years. Here is a pagan Babylonian telling the children of Israel they were sinners! As believers, don't we bow in shame when the world publicly announces the sins of the saints?  There are many non-believers who can see God's justice and truth with regard to others, they're always quick to point out the sins of believers.  Though they may be right, they are completely blind of their own sinful condition, and do not themselves heed God's Word and His warning.

Jeremiah is freed from the prison court.  He is given a choice to stay in Judah, or go with them back to Babylon where he will be cared for, for the rest of his life. He is advised to go stay with Gedaliah.  After 40 years of hearing the voice of the Lord, I think Jeremiah already knows what God would have him to do.  There will be two more prophets that the Lord raises up in Babylon, both Ezekiel and Daniel, so Jeremiah stays, along with the remnant who are left to keep the land as God preserves it for future generations.

We will also meet Gedaliah, the good governor who is put in authority over the land.  A man who will uphold the law.  Gedaliah is later warned by Johanan of a coming coup led by Ishmael, but he is a man who thought the best in people.

Find out what happens next week!