NO SAFE HAVEN

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In Tahpanhes the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes. Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them. He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword. He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. As a shepherd picks his garment clean of lice, so he will pick Egypt clean and depart. There in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’”

Jeremiah 43:8-13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Jeremiah 43 opened up, we found the Jewish remnant of Mizpah responding to the proposition given them by God’s prophet, a proposition that called for the Jews to remain in Judah and settle there instead of going to Egypt, the place they were heading before asking Jeremiah to petition God on their behalf to tell them where to go and what to do.

So how did the Jews respond?

Scripture tells us they to disobey the Lord’s command to stay in the land of Judah (Jeremiah 43:4). Instead, the Jews followed their own desire to go to Egypt and “went as far as Tahpanhes” (43:7), taking Jeremiah and Baruch, the prophet’s secretary, along (43:6).

The decision carried with it great risk because God had warned of what would happen if the people did not comply with His will and way:

“However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the Lord your God, 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,’ 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, then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die. 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.’ 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.’” Jeremiah 42:13-18

We need to recall this because as we look at the closing verses of Jeremiah 43, we find the Lord starting to affirm that He would do what He said He would do in response to the sinful choice His people made. Look again at these words here:

In Tahpanhes, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes. Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them. He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword. He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. As a shepherd picks his garment clean of lice, so he will pick Egypt clean and depart. There in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’” Jeremiah 43:8-13

As we see, the range of the Babylonians under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar was soon going to expand as their empire would swallow up Egypt. Note here that the Lord calls the Babylonian king His servant which essentially says that what Nebuchadnezzar would do was in response to God’s call and in this case, the call was to annihilate Egypt just as Judah was annihilated. And as Nebuchadnezzar assumed power in Egypt, his throne would be established right on top of the large stones Jeremiah buried in the clay within the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace right there in Tahpanhes.

The Lord went on to detail the scope of the Babylonian destruction as death and captivity would come to the people and demolition to the Egyptian places of worship, the places where they worshiped all their false gods. Again, Tahpanhes would find itself experiencing the same judgment as in Jerusalem, all because of the wicked disobedience of the Jewish remnant of Mizpah. Later, we will see how these gods came into play in the lives of the people of God so don’t think for a moment that there wasn’t a connection.

So there you have it. The Jewish remnant chose their way over God’s way, despite His warnings of judgment and so they ,and by association the Egyptians, would feel the fullest extent of God’s wrath. In the end translation, the people of God thought they knew what was in their best interest better than their Lord, disobeying God to go to Egypt where they thought they would be safe when God had told them they wouldn’t be.

As believers, we had better be paying close attention to what is going on here because going to a sinful place (read going to the place where we want to go vice where he wants us to go against the will of God) will never result in anyone finding a safe haven.

It didn’t work for the Jewish remnant of Mizpah as they fled to Egypt.

It didn’t work for Jonah as he tried to run away from what God wanted him to do in Nineveh (Read the Book of Jonah for his story).

It won’t work for us today either.

Friends, the only safe haven we will ever truly have in life is when we commit ourselves fully to the care of the Lord, surrendering our desires in life and submitting fully to His word, will, and way in every way. When we do that, we will find over and over again as David did that the Lord is our refuge and strength, our very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com