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The Bible Breakdown
Jeremiah 21: Not the Game Plan we Expected
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, jeremiah, chapter 21,. And today's title is Not the Game Plan we Expected. Not the game plan we expected. God is going to, through Jeremiah, give Jerusalem, give the people a plan not quite what they expected. We're getting into all that in just a moment. But if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast, Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. They do an amazing job over there.
Speaker 1:It's always a joy to get up in the mornings and read those devotions every day and I hope you enjoy them as well. The more we dig, the more we find. If you have your Bibles, wanna open up with me to Jeremiah, chapter 21. Remember, the overall goal of the book of Jeremiah is that God wants to give us a future and a hope and he gives us his light in the darkness and that is a wonderful thing. But it isn't always what we expect it to be and I think some of that. I don't know. I'd love to know down in the comments on YouTube and if you listen to the podcast, I'd love for you to go there and comment on this, or maybe go to the Bible Breakdown discussion and comment. Why do you think it is that we all expect to have a happy ending when it comes to any difficulty we face? Why is that? Now, I know that in one way, it's well, because that's the best case scenario, right. But what makes us think we deserve it? And I don't mean that negatively, but like, if you think about it, like I was one of those kids that when I was in school, I just expected I would make an A on every test and I was shocked to find out when I wouldn't. Now you would say well, brandon, if you studied and did your best, that's all you can hope for. But that was the problem. I didn't study, I didn't do my best, but I still expected to make an A, and there's kind of some of that going on.
Speaker 1:In the chapter today, there is this idea of the people of Judah and Jerusalem are saying well, you know, maybe God will rescue us. Have you been faithful to God? Have you been what? No, maybe he will, you know. And so God's like well, I've got a plan, but you're probably not going to like it, and I think we can do that sometimes in our life when it's like, you know God, I'm not going to live for you, I'm not going to do what you say, I'm not going to hope for you, I'm not going to do any of these things, but I don't understand why you're not rescuing me and I wonder if God's going well. I've got a plan, but you're not going to like it. Let's read this together today and let's see if maybe God would convict us us a little bit with this and give us the plan that we need as well. You ready? Jeremiah.
Speaker 1:Chapter 21, verse 1, says this the Lord spoke through Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pasher, the son of Micaiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Masaiah, the priest, to speak to him, and they begged Jeremiah. Now pause. This is the same guy, pasher, who threw Jeremiah in jail, so that guy is now begging Jeremiah. I bet that was fun, right? Please speak to the Lord for us and ask him to help us. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking Judah. Perhaps the Lord will be gracious and do a mighty miracle, as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his armies. Now pause. Now this is the sameadnezzar to withdraw his armies Now. Pause. Now this is the same people who don't want to serve God. They don't want to do it God's way, but now that they need God, they're like you know perhaps. So watch what happens.
Speaker 1:Verse 3. Jeremiah replied go back and tell King Zedekiah. Tell him this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says I will make your weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside your walls, who are attacking you. In fact, I will bring your enemies right into the heart of the city. I myself will fight against you with a strong hand and a powerful arm, for I am very angry, you have made me furious. I will send a terrible plague upon this city and both people and animals will die. And after that, says the Lord, I will hand over King Zedekiah, his staff and everyone else in the city who survives the disease, the war and famine. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their other enemies. He will slaughter them and show them no mercy, pity or compassion. Tell all the people this is what the Lord says Take your choice of life or death. Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life, for I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will reduce it to ashes.
Speaker 1:Say to the royal family of Judah listen to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord says to the dynasty of David. Give justice each morning to the people you judge. Help those who have been robbed. Rescue them from their oppressors, otherwise my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire. Because of all your sins, I will personally fight against the people of Jerusalem, that mighty fortress. The people will boast. The people who boast. No one can touch us here. No one can break in here. I myself will punish you for your sinfulness, says the Lord. I will light a fire in your forests that will burn up everything around you. Wow.
Speaker 1:So they go to Jeremiah and they say perhaps, perhaps the Lord will rescue us, perhaps he will. And what Jeremiah says to them basically is okay, guess what? The Lord's going to rescue you. He's going to rescue you because you're going to surrender. He's not going to rescue you by letting you be strong and defeat your enemies and all this kind of stuff. No, you're going to rescue through surrender. You're going to get rescued through surrender. You're going to have to go through a difficult season because, over and over and over again, you did not do what God said. But if you'll do what God says this time, he will rescue you, but not the way you think. Wow. First of all, there's a mercy there, because they have, over and over again, gone against God's way and God could have just as easily said I don't care what you do, you're going to get destroyed. But even in that, he gives them this opportunity for rescue. But it's not what they think and not the way they would have wished. That's still amazing, can I tell you.
Speaker 1:There are times and I am not talking about people who are doing everything they know how to do, they're doing the best they can, they're being as faithful as they can, and they're coming up against difficult situations. This is not you, okay. And they're coming up against difficult situations. This is not you, okay. This is for people who, if we're honest, we don't do what we know to do, we don't honor God, we don't serve God, we're not faithful, we're doing our own thing. But then we get mad at God when he doesn't rescue us through powerful victory. Right, but the great news is is, even if you're not doing what you're supposed to do, god doesn't give up on you. It's just going to look different. Sometimes God doesn't save us from problems. He saves us through problems. Now, on the other side, sometimes that is still his battle strategy when we didn't do anything wrong.
Speaker 1:There's people listening to this podcast right now that you're probably saying but, pastor, that's not my story. I'm being faithful, I'm doing the best, I know how, I'm honoring God with everything I have, and my life is still difficult. I still feel like there's enemies at the gates. And here's the thing Sometimes God will work a powerful victory and rescue you. You remember when we were reading in Isaiah, when all of the armies of Assyria were coming against Hezekiah and it said that during that night, an angel of the Lord went out and destroyed like 100,000 enemy soldiers, and so the people of Israel didn't have to do anything. Sometimes God does that, and sometimes God saves you through a battle. Both times the Lord brings you out, but the story is different. Both times the Lord is faithful, but his reasons for doing so are different.
Speaker 1:The thing is is can we trust God when his battle strategy is different than ours? That's hard. That's hard because we always want the wonderful you know, charge, you know you just charge the enemy and take over and that kind of stuff. And there's times for that. God does that a lot of times, but sometimes for his reasons that we only see when we look back later. Sometimes he says this is what I need you to do. I need you to do the hard thing. I just I need you in this moment to go through the difficult road. You'll see on the other side, but it's the only way.
Speaker 1:My question for you today is is can you trust God to lead you wherever he leads you? Now, there's a balance here and God is never going to lead you into sin. He's never going to lead you away from him. He's never going to lead you away from the community of your Christian brothers and sisters. He's not going to try to isolate you for long periods of time. I can't find that anywhere in scripture, that for long periods of time he said to forsake your brothers and sisters in Christ. I don't see any of that. But many times he will tell you to take the long road, take the hard road, take the less easy way. You have a choice between doing what's right and doing what's easy to us right all the time. But if you do, there's joy there, there's rescue there, there's life there, he says. Your reward will be life, even if it's not a journey you would have chosen for yourself.
Speaker 1:Let's pray together right now, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you are God and we are not, because so many times we would not have chosen the journeys that you send us on. But we trust you that you have a reason for every season and I pray, god, that if there's someone listening or watching this today and they're going through one of those seasons, that just simply doesn't make sense. I pray, lord, that you will open their eyes to see you more clearly and help them to see that you're always doing more than we notice in the moment. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen, what God's Word says in Jeremiah 29, verse 13,. If you look for me, wholeheartedly, say it with me. You will find me. My hope is that you see God more in your life every single day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Jeremiah, chapter 22.
