Alternative Futures

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Opening Prayer

Lord, when I have You, I lack nothing. All I need is to rejoice. I rejoice now as I bow before You in worship.

Read JEREMIAH 41:16-42:22

^[16] Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led away all the people of Mizpah who had survived, whom Johanan had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam-the soldiers, women, children and court officials he had recovered from Gibeon. ^[17] And they went on, stopping at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt ^[18] to escape the Babylonians. They were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land. ^[1] Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached ^[2] Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please hear our petition and pray to the LORD your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left. ^[3] Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.” ^[4] “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will certainly pray to the LORD your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the LORD says and will keep nothing back from you.” ^[5] Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. ^[6] Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.” ^[7] Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. ^[8] So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest. ^[9] He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: ^[10] ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you. ^[11] Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. ^[12] I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’ ^[13] “However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the LORD your God, ^[14] and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,’ ^[15] then hear the word of the LORD, you remnant of Judah. 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, ^[16] then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. ^[17] Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’ ^[18] This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach; you will never see this place again.’ ^[19] “Remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today ^[20] that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, ‘Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’ ^[21] I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you. ^[22] So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.”

Meditate

“Since Wisdom took its chance on earth, / To show God’s living way, / We’ll trust that fear and force will fail, / And Wisdom win the day” (Brian Wren). Ponder these words from a contemporary hymn writer.

Think Further

In these accounts of confused people in desperate disarray, we sense the awful dilemmas faced by ordinary people caught up in conflicts not of their own making. Wanting only to save their lives and their families, people often have no choice but to take sides, aligning with the group or leader who seems the most powerful. We see it in the world today. The Taliban are perpetrators of deadly terrorist attacks, but not every villager who sides with them is a person of evil intent. They may have little choice if all they want is some sort of half-decent life.

Gedaliah had offered a good and godly possibility for the future (40:11-12), but his assassination by a Jewish zealot changed the political landscape. Johanan acted responsibly, stepping up as a new leader. He suspected, not without good reason, that the recent killings would bring down Babylonian reprisals on the local Jews. His strategy was to take the people away to the protection of Egypt, a strong nation not yet under Babylonian control. Jeremiah was himself caught up in this exodus and Johanan sought his prayerful advice. The question was always going to be whether this advice, God’s advice, would be heeded. It is one thing to seek prayer, but as we will discuss tomorrow, it is quite a different thing to reject the answer.

Once again, poor Jeremiah must make unpopular pronouncements. As always, however, they contain seeds of hope if only the people will listen. We must believe God and so, in these passages, we must believe that the choices God offered were real, that there were alternative futures. In Jeremiah’s world, the future was not set by some irrevocable plan. The future was malleable. Human decision was a crucial part of shaping the future. Is it any different today?

Apply

Do you pray for our political leaders? The choices before them are real. They can and do affect the future, for good or for ill. Resolve now to be more faithful in prayer for our nation’s leaders.

Closing prayer

Loving Father, I lift to You the leaders of our nation. Grant them wisdom and courage to be obedient to what they know is right.

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