Ignoring The Will of God

Jeremiah 39:1–18
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Zedekiah, son on Josiah was the last king of Judah. His two older brothers Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim and his nephew Jehoiachin ruled before him. When Jehoiachin was exiled to Babylon and Zedekiah was 21 years of age he was made king (v. 1). A year and a half after the Babylonian army came against Jerusalem they captured the city. “In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city” (v. 2), The Babylonian armies poured into the city, overthrew it, captured the palace and burned it to the ground, captured the temple, burned it to the ground, took the king captive, put out his eyes, and led him away to Babylon (vv. 3-10). And Jeremiah was freed from his prison house.

There are at least four things that we can glean from this account which are of significance to us today. We find here four ways by which individuals and nations seek to turn aside the will of God, and all are present in our nation today:

1. People can ignore and refuse to listen to God, and give themselves over to things that help them forget a life of sin by refusing to hear and heed the Word of God.
2. People can persecute the prophets of God, and hinder the message of God. Perhaps that is more visible in third world countries today than it is here, but it is happening in America too!
3. People can seek to circumvent the catastrophe which is coming by political maneuvering and manipulations. It is an attempt to escape judgment by cover-ups, pretenses and bribery.
4. People can compromise in outward ways, but fall short of real submission to God. That is when a people become outwardly religious but their hearts remain unchanged.

Application

There is only one attitude that will avert the coming judgment of God: repentance, humiliation before God, acknowledgment of guilt, a cry to God that he will change me, forgive me and heal this land.