Jer 26-29 Decisions are hard sometimes!!

August 19th, Jeremiah 26-29

       Who do you listen to? I've never really thought about this until today, but part of the problem for residents of the Israel and Judah in this day was the competing voices. Prophets like Hananiah that speak their own message and not God's.
       In times of trouble it's easy to get a lot of advice. Ironically the people least able to speak wisdom, sometimes speak the most and the ones who actually have something to say, wait a little too long. The real time dilemma...imagine yourself in the Temple courts and two guys stand up and make a proclamation, who do you believe?
       Add to that the prophets message...for the time being, Nebuchadnezzar is your ruler and Babylon is the kingdom you are going to be part of. 27:12-13 "bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live. Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken of any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon."
A.       That's a tough pill to swallow, even if God came down and spoke it himself!!
B.       It's tough to choose the voice to listen to when false prophets proclaim..."Never will we do that"
       This is the backdrop for a verse we all know and love, Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not hurt you, to give you hope and a future." That  plan includes captivity and release. In some ways I can see the difficulty of listening to God's prophets. It doesn't really make sense, that's why it's called faith and that's what we are invited into.
       In chapter 26:16-24 there is a humorously painful discussion. The heart of it is this...these prophets keep saying stuff that comes true. Jeremiah has spoken in the name of the Lord, we shouldn't kill him...but we're not going to do anything either!! This paralysis of making a Godly decision when faced with the truth is not just a story for generations gone by. It's our story, a storyline that needs to be enveloped by faith rather than fear, action instead of passivity, decisions..."As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."

       Whose voice will you listen to? How will you discern God's will over your own or your counsel's?