By: Mark Alyabyev
When I was younger and wanted to go outside and play with my friends, I would go ask my mom for permission. If she said no, I would then proceed to ask my dad in hopes of getting things my way—one way or another.
While my parents no longer have authority over me, I am still under the authority of God. Often, I catch myself wanting to do things my way, but I realize that God’s way is better.
In the days of Jeremiah, the people came to him and asked if God willed for them to head out to Egypt because they were scared to stay in Judea. God’s answer was that they would be blessed if they stayed and cursed if they went. They disobeyed and headed down to Egypt to their own doom.
Is there something that God may be trying to tell you that you don’t
want to hear because your understanding seems better?
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… “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….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. (Jeremiah 42:9-16)