There are many reasons why people disobey God, and one of them is fear. It could be that a person is afraid to fail, or what others will think, or possibly the negative things that might happen to us if we fully trust God. Fear is a powerful motivator in moving us to action. While we all have an instinctive desire to protect our lives, fear can also be a paralyzing element that keeps us from experiencing God’s purposes for our lives. While most people are walking by what they see, know, and understand, Scripture teaches us that we are to walk by faith in what God is asking us to do despite possible fears that would hinder us from moving forward. When we overcome our fears, we can face the giants in our lives and prevail, like David did over Goliath.
It is interesting that Joshua, Moses’ successor, struggled with the issue of fear in leading the people of God into the promised land. In Joshua 1, God spoke to Joshua saying that He would be with him even as He had been with Moses. God’s challenge was simply.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.[i]
Maybe you are here today, afraid, discouraged by what is transpiring in your life. Embrace God’s promise to trust Him, to venture out courageously and know that God is with you. But what happens when we give in to fear? Once again, we find in the book of Jeremiah, God’s message for the people to follow a course of action in which they were afraid to take. What will they do? How will they respond? The greater and more pressing question is, what will we do and how will we respond to the fears that keep us from fulfilling God’s will and purposes for our lives? There are some things we need to address to overcome fear from shaping our life.
THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO ADDRESS TO OVERCOME FEAR FROM SHAPING OUR LIVES IS TO IDENTIFY WHAT WE ARE FEARFUL OF
What is keeping us from doing what we know is the right thing to do? Where is this fear coming from? Here in our text, we discover that the assassination of the Babylonian supported governor caused the people to fear reprisals and they instinctively wanted to run as far away as possible from a potential threat. When threatened, fear is a normal human response to the problem, but how to respond to the crisis and move past fear is critical for healthy resolution to the challenges and giants we face.
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. And they went on, stopping at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt 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.[ii]
Was flight the best response? Is running away from challenges or facing difficult situations the better response? The best response was to inquire of God and then respond according to His will. The question then is, what is God’s will? How can we determine it? Where might we begin in understanding what God thinks of the matter? The Bible is certainly God’s revealed will in shaping how we should address issues. Though it may not always say specific things, it does give us a clarity of who God is and the principles He reveals to us. When in doubt, we ought to slow down, seek God, and patiently wait until God reveals through His word, circumstances, or other godly, mature people to speak into our current situation.
However, much the people claim that they are truly seeking God’s guidance, they are really only wanting God to confirm and to give his blessing to what they have already decided for themselves. They already know what they want to hear from this God and their minds are closed to anything else.[iii]
Once we understand what the fear is, in their case possible reprisals from the Babylonians, then facing those fears with God’s direction and empowerment would be the right response. As we shall see, God would have done that very thing, as He will in our situations in life. We should not build our decision-making based on fear, but rather on faith. We do not walk by fear, but by faith. We know that the author of fear is Satan. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control (see 2 Tim. 1:7).
THE SECOND THING WE NEED TO ADDRESS TO OVERCOME FEAR FROM SHAPING OUR LIVES IS TO SEEK GOD FOR DIRECTION THEN RESPOND OBEDIENTLY TO HIS WILL
The real question for a believer is simply, what does God want us to do? How are we going to face the giants in our lives? How are we going to face the fears in our lives? We can live in defeat and fear the rest of our lives, or we can address them with God’s enabling help. What did this remnant do?
A. They Inquired of God.
So, the leaders approached God’s prophet Jeremiah to determine what God would say would be the right course of action. This is a great response to the fears that they were experiencing.
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 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. Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.’ ‘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.’ 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. 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.’[iv]
This sounds so refreshing. A desire to hear from God and respond to him, no matter what, as they state, “whether favorable or unfavorable.” How often we also talk the talk, but it is a different story when it comes to really trusting God. All through the book of Jeremiah we find that the people were double-minded. They wanted God’s blessing, but on their terms, and when God challenged them or disciplined them for their waywardness and disobedience they continued in their rebellion.
The survivors had still not learned the lesson of implicit trust in God in all areas of life. Self-interest has predominated once again, and now their concern is merely to know if God will approve of their plan to migrate to Egypt.[v]
Philip Ryken shares how many believers simply want God to endorse their plans when they are asking for prayer for God’s will or as he states it:
The trouble is, too many people do not start asking those questions until they are halfway down to Egypt. They only pretend to want to know God’s will for their lives. What they really want is for God to put his rubber stamp on the plans they have already made.[vi]
Jeremiah seeks God for a message for the people and God’s response is twofold, expressing a promise and a warning depending upon their response to the message.
B. God’s promised blessing.
“Ten days later the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 42:7)”. Notice God’s answer doesn’t come according to our timetable. The need to wait upon God for the answer is critical. It states that ten days later God revealed His message to Jeremiah. Ten is a number that symbolizes God’s law (the ten commandments), His authority. It is associated with order, responsibility and judgment. Can you imagine the panic state that these refugees were in? Remember that they are feeling the pressure to flee. There must have been a sense of fear and impatience driving them. They probably felt that the Babylonians could come at any minute, but Jeremiah was unmoved by the pressure as he waited upon God for the answer, and when it came, he delivered the message to them. Jeremiah didn’t just speak to the leadership, but to all the people. They all needed to hear what God had to say.
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. He said to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: “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. 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. I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.”’[vii]
Here we see that God is speaking to their fears and explains that what they are afraid of will not materialize if they stay in the land. They simply need to trust God. He will show them compassion and restore them. The issue is, will we believe God’s word or allow our fears to determine and shape our future? Obedience is the key to God’s blessings in our lives.
In many ways, the form of the response follows a typical covenant structure. God is giving the people instructions (law) backed by sanctions (rewards and punishments). The fact that the people have called on God as witness to this transaction further suggests this identification. In this light, we might remember that the destruction of Jerusalem took place because Judah had broken the law of the covenant and so received the penalty of the curses. Now the remnant of Judah will have another chance.[viii]
Jeremiah is calling them to face their fears and trust God. God is calling them to stay in the land. If they do so, they will be built up and destroyed. “I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you.” God reveals that He will stop the disaster that is occurring in their lives, but it is conditioned upon their obedience. God promises to show them compassion and restoration. Tremper Longman states the heart and longing of God in this message.
We are not to think that God came to believe he made a mistake in the judgment of the exile. But we are to recognize that God loves his people so much that it hurt him to have to judge them and he is looking passionately for an opportunity to restore them.[ix]
C. God’s warning for disobedience.
Throughout the book of Jeremiah, we see the warnings of judgment and disaster if God’s people persist in disobedience. In other words, there are consequences to sin. Jeremiah now communicates the warning.
However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the Lord your God, 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,’ 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, then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. 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.’ 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.’[x]
By fleeing, they assume that they would be avoiding the very things that happened to them in the land with the destruction of Jerusalem. Safety is not found in Egypt, but in God and His promises. Often in our lives, we look to the human equation rather than put our full confidence in God. We look to ourselves to provide the solutions apart from God and walking in His counsel. Often God’s words are in direct contradiction to what our sinful, fearful human nature would encourage us to do. This was a critical juncture, a moment of truth. What they would decide would be unalterable. There would be no turning back, but their destiny was now before them. Their decision to reject God’s word was like going from the frying pan into the fire. One of the deadliest sins in the lives of God’s people is leaning on our own understanding, rather than trusting in God to protect and provide for us. Walter Brueggemann explains how decisions often have irreversible consequences.
No doubt the remnant community, any remnant community, imagines its displacement as temporary; there will come a time, sooner or later, when there will be a return to the homeland. The prophetic oracle rejects such a hope. This remnant, if it leaves the land, will never come back. The present moment is the only chance for life in the land; if that chance is forfeited, there will be no other chance.[xi]
When God speaks, to not hear, listen, to obey brings us into alienation from God and loss of blessings in our lives. If God gives life, then to reject Him means we are embracing the path of death and destruction.
D. Jeremiah’s additional remarks.
Remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, “Do not go to Egypt.” Be sure of this: I warn you today 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.” I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. 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.’ When Jeremiah had finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God—everything the Lord had sent him to tell them—[xii]
As we read Jeremiah’s additional comments from God’s specific message, we gain the sense that he knows that they had already made up their minds and were only looking for God’s stamp of approval, and now when they hear something that is not what they are about to do, they will reject both the messenger and the message. Roland Harrison explains what Jeremiah is doing as he knows what they are about to do. “He exposes the duplicity of their pretended consultation for guidance when their minds had been made up all along.”[xiii]
E. Accusatory and disobedient response.
When we hear a message that we do not like often the response is negative, including name-calling and blaming.
Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, ‘You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, “You must not go to Egypt to settle there.” But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.’ So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the Lord’s command to stay in the land of Judah. Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan—the men, the women, the children and the king’s daughters. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah along with them. So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the Lord and went as far as Tahpanhes.[xiv]
When we don’t like what we are being told, we vilify the messenger in order to discredit the message. By telling Jeremiah that he was lying, they were basically saying that he was a false prophet.
Walter Brueggemann brings out the irony in this episode of disobedience by the remnant.
They arrived at Tahpanhes (v. 7)! Of course they did. That is where they had been headed. That is where they were resolved to go. That is where they wanted to go, even against the counsel of the prophet. That is where they went to be ‘out of reach’ of the Babylonians. The culmination of this confrontation is indeed ironic. Johanan and his companions imagined they had escaped the threat. Jeremiah had made clear that they had chosen poorly. In pursuit of life, they had chosen death (42:22). According to the prophet, they were closed off forever to the homeland. …They ended up where the story of Israel had begun back in Egypt, back in a bondage they misread as freedom.[xv]
Fear can drive us to do what we think is the safe course of action. It is what we can see in the moment, but leads us away from God, who can save us. Fear leads us into bondage, rather than freedom. The land is a key symbol of the O.T. of God’s presence. Here the remnant has turned their backs on God and His word of hope, blessings, deliverance, with freedom from fear. God promised to show them compassion and that He would restore and rebuild their lives. We need to see what is motivating our lives. Is it fear that is driving our decision making? Is it fear that keeps us from following God’s word and blessings in our lives? God’s love drives out all fear. When we know God and His amazing love, we can be free from fear and able to walk empowered by God to live a courageous life.
https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/02/17/14/17/person-1205140_640.jpg
[i] Joshua 1:9, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[ii] Jeremiah 41:16-18.
[iii] Robert Davidson, Jeremiah, Vol. 2, The Daily Study Bible Series, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1985), 143.
[iv] Jeremiah 42:1-6.
[v] R. K. Harrison, Jeremiah & Lamentations, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 19, (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1973), 163.
[vi] Philip Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope, (Wheaton, Il: Crossway Books, 2016), 614.
[vii] Jeremiah 42:8-12.
[viii] Tremper Longman III, Jeremiah, Lamentations, New International Biblical Commentary, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 265.
[ix] Ibid, 266.
[x] Jeremiah 42:13-18.
[xi] Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 393.
[xii] Jeremiah 42:19-43:1.
[xiii] R. K. Harrison, Jeremiah & Lamentations, 164.
[xiv] Jeremiah 43:2-7.
[xv] Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, 398-99.
