Ten days later the Lord gave his reply to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 42:7
In this day of instant gratification, emails, sms and all things fast, we have lost the art of waiting. I confess that I need to learn patience with wait-staff in cafes after years of fast and great service in Asian restaurants. I am so thankful that God is patient with me.
The people of Judah were in crisis at this point in their history (read Jeremiah 42 & 43). Babylon had captured and now ruled their land. At yet another low point in their lives they cried out to the prophet Jeremiah to "Beg the Lord your God to show us what to do and where to go" (42:3). (Isn't it interesting that they weren't taking ownership of God but were wanting his help!) "All right," Jeremiah replied, "I will pray to the Lord your God and I will tell you everything he says..... " (42:4). (Jeremiah reminds them that God is indeed still their God in spite of their disobedience.)
It took 10 days for the answer to come from God - that's slower than most 'snail mail! Sometimes we just need to wait awhile and be patient for God to answer us. Those times are a little dark, like this picture I chose, but we need to be sure that God will answer us as he did the Judeans. I'm sure he doesn't have to think about the answer but he probably knows it's a good thing for us to have to wait sometimes.
The answer that came was not what the people wanted to hear. They were unhappy under Babylonian rule and they feared their captors - in a nutshell, they wanted out, but God said, "Stay in the land.... I am with you. Do not fear the king of Babylon any more.... I will rescue you from his power and make him kind so he will let you stay in your land." (vs 10-12).To me that was a very clear and reassuring answer from God yet the people were angry and accused Jeremiah of lying. Amazingly the people refused to believe the answer and set off to 'rescue themselves' by going to Egypt (vs 43). This turned out to be the death of all but a few.
Sometimes we find ourselves in a difficult and uncomfortable situation and we just want to run away, hide or find some other way of escape to make us feel better. It is good in those times to remember that God is with us - he's promised that he will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We need to wait and allow him to do whatever work of character-building he wants to do, or perhaps he just wants us to realise in a fresh way how good he is in every situation.
Prayer: Father God, thank you that you are faithful and all wise; that you know about every situation and detail of my life. Help me to trust you in the uncomfortable times as well as in the good times. Amen
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