I'll take it under advisement
Sometimes we ask for advice when we’re really looking for validation. Sometimes we pretend to seek God’s will, then second-guess Him when He reveals it. In the latter part of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, the fall of the nation of Judah is in full bloom. The Babylonians have made several raids, confiscated most everything of value, and taken into captivity anyone they counted as being a person of consequence.
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” –Luke 6:46 (ESV)
In the chaos, rival groups are vying for control of the handful of people and resources that remain. One of those is led by a former army officer named Johanan, who has decided the best chance of survival for the remnant of Jews left in Jerusalem is to flee to Egypt. Before completely leaving town, they decide to verify their plan with God, so they visit Jeremiah to inquire of the LORD.
“Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”
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.” –Jeremiah 42:3, 5 (NIV)
Jeremiah prays on their behalf and waits. After ten days, an answer is made plain. If Johanan and his ragtag bunch stay in Judah, they will be captured but they will find favor in the eyes of the king of Babylon, their lives will be spared, and they will have descendants who return to the land once the years of exile have ended. If they go to Egypt, they will die there at the hands of the Babylonians.
“I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. 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.” –Jeremiah 42:21-22 (NIV)
That wasn’t what Johanan wanted to hear. He calls Jeremiah a liar, leads the people into Egypt, and dies there. This story reminded me of times in my life when I have asked the LORD to show me His will, only to find His will more difficult and inconvenient than I was willing to obey. Or times when I laid my plans and sought God’s blessing as an afterthought when it was too late to do anything different.
When Jeremiah had finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God—everything the Lord had sent him to tell them— Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’” –Jeremiah 43:1-2 (NIV)
God forgive me for the times I invoked Your guidance or Your blessing with little to no thought of what You actually wanted for me. When I pray, may I come to you early, genuinely seeking You, with a response of “Yes, Lord” ready for whatever answer You provide. Your ways are always right.
But hear the word of the Lord, all you Jews living in Egypt: “I swear by my great name,” says the Lord, “that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, ‘As surely as the Sovereign Lord lives.’ For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed.” –Jeremiah 44:26-27 (NIV)