Good Advice

By: Quaneisha Reynolds

Jeremiah 42:18-22 NASB

18For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “As My anger and wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so My wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach; and you will see this place no more.” 19The LORD has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not go into Egypt!” You should clearly understand that today I have testified against you. 20For you have only deceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the LORD your God, saying, “Pray for us to the LORD our God; and whatever the LORD our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” 21So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the LORD your God, even in whatever He has sent me to tell you. 22Therefore you should now clearly understand that you will die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence, in the place where you wish to go to reside.

Have you ever given anyone some really great advice that you knew would make a difference in their life? Advice like: you should get some sleep since you haven't slept in two days or you should break off that unholy relationship with so and so or you should fast and pray before you pursue that job or major. What did the person do with your advice? Did they take it to God and see if the advice was sound or did they reject your words while continuing to come to you for more advice that they would not listen to? The plurality of the Israelites in the book of Jeremiah listened to Jeremiah's words with no desire to heed them. In this book, Jeremiah informs the Hebrews that they will inevitably being taken into Babylonian captivity if they do not turn back to God. He shares this message over and over again. And guess what, they get taken into Babylonian captivity because they do not repent. Jeremiah next reiterates the importance of waiting for the Lord to free them from the Babylonians and not to go into Egypt. Guess what?! Most of them head on into Egypt and that is where our focal text is from. So captivity, deaths and destruction all resulted from Israel's rejection of the Lord's message through Jeremiah to repent ….

But enough about Jeremiah and Israel ... what about you and God. When the Holy Spirit tells you that you have sinned does your life display the fruits of repentance as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 7:11 or do you show that you miss being in the domain of darkness that He has transferred you from (Colossians 1:13)? When you are supposed to speak out ... do you remain silent? When you are supposed to ask the Lord to purify you from a lifestyle habit of masturbation, fornication (with the same sex or opposite sex) or lying, do you do it? When will we internalize Jeremiah 29:11, and realize that God's commandments are for our good and that there are consequences attached to our decision to either accept or reject His words? I am sooo grateful that Abba's kindness, tolerance and patience leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4), because HELL is our just wage for not repenting.