The worst thing that happened to the Israelites was the Babylonian captivity. Long after they were rescued from the Pharaoh and brought to the Promised Land, after David killed Goliath and God established David’s kingdom and Solomon’s temple—generations passed and the people got worse and worse. Remember how they left Egypt and built a golden calf? A thousand years later, they were still struggling with idol worship!
(Isn’t that just like us?)
Finally, the nation becomes so evil that God sends Babylonians to conquer them, destroy Solomon’s temple, burn Jerusalem, and cart the people off to Babylon as captives. That got their attention, and they asked Jeremiah to pray for them. They wanted some answers from God.
“Pray to the Lord your God on our behalf… that God may tell us the way we should walk and the thing we should do…. WHETHER IT IS PLEASANT OR UNPLEASANT, WE WILL OBEY the voice of the Lord our God… so that it may go well with us. We will certainly obey!” Jeremiah 42:2-3,6.
These people are tired of fighting God, tired of running, tired of being captives, and desperate for some help from God. And notice verse 6: “Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey.”
That is the key. When I need answers from God, He never speaks until I am truly willing to obey—no matter what, whether pleasant or unpleasant. If I am secretly, stubbornly clinging to something I want, somewhere deep down inside, then God is silent. But when He and I both know I have released that and am ready to do anything for Him, THAT is when He speaks. Never before. (And even in this case, Jeremiah had to pray for ten days before God spoke.) NEVER GIVE UP IN PRAYER.
Take your questions to God—and ask Him to make your heart truly willing to do ANYTHING for Him, whether pleasant or unpleasant. THEN keep praying, and He will speak.
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