Are You Honest With Yourself?

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know that being honest with ourselves is the greatest thing we can do when it comes to pursuing God. It’s one thing to hear God, but it’s an even bigger thing to respond to it appropriately. How we view God determines how we see ourselves. If we are honest, we respond like Jeremiah does here. The Reader’s Digest version of Jeremiah’s situation reads as follows: Judah is exiled to Babylon. Jeremiah is left behind. He is imprisoned for speaking the truth. The King of Judah is taken into exile. A leader is appointed by the Babylonians. This leader has taken care of Jeremiah. The leader is assassinated. Jeremiah is captured. Jeremiah is rescued by a small band of Israelite freedom fighters. They ask him to pray, for they are fearing for their lives from what the Babylonians will do because of the assassination. They tell Jeremiah that whatever God tells them they will do or be held accountable. They don’t listen and do the very thing they were not supposed to do. Now, does this pattern seem familiar? Does it not represent the history of Israel? God rescues, people rejoice, people prosper, take God for granted, make unfaithful promises, serve others gods, get punished by God, suffer, repent, then repeat the process over and over again. The second we lose the ability to be honest with ourselves, sorrow and tragedy await us. And the most important part, this ability to be honest with ourselves, is God given. It’s why it’s crucial to stay close to Him. The more we get to know God, the better we know our true selves. And that gives us this ability to be honest with ourselves. God is in control. He is in charge. He is the only One capable of doing the job. We are not, and we were never meant to play God either. Understanding this one truth, sets in motion our ability to related to all things. The world tries to tell us to trust ourselves. That only leads to rebelling against God. And worse yet, the very thing we want to escape from (in their case: death, war, and famine) will be the exact thing we experience (when we refuse to obey God by taking heed to the world’s request). If you want this ability, to be honest with oneself, drawing close to God is the only proven method to get there. Are you honest with yourself?

1 Then all the guerrilla leaders, 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. They said, “Please pray to the Lord your God for us. As you can see, we are only a tiny remnant compared to what we were before. 3 Pray that the Lord your God will show us what to do and where to go.”4 “All right,” Jeremiah replied. “I will pray to the Lord your God, as you have asked, and I will tell you everything He says. I will hide nothing from you.”5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever He tells us to do! 6 Whether we like it or not, we will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you with our plea. For if we obey Him, everything will turn out well for us.”7 Ten days later the Lord gave His reply to Jeremiah. 8 So he called for Johanan son of Kareah and the other guerrilla leaders, and for all the people, from the least to the greatest. 9 He said to them, “You sent me to the Lord, the God of Israel, with your request, and this is His reply: 10 ‘Stay here in this land. If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you. For I am sorry about all the punishment I have had to bring upon you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon anymore,’ says the Lord. ‘For I am with you and will save you and rescue you from his power. 12 I will be merciful to you by making him kind, so he will let you stay here in your land.’13 “But if you refuse to obey the Lord your God, and if you say, ‘We will not stay here; 14 instead, we will go to Egypt where we will be free from war, the call to arms, and hunger,’ 15 then hear the Lord’s message to the remnant of Judah. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and live there, 16 the very war and famine you fear will catch up to you, and you will die there. 17 That is the fate awaiting every one of you who insists on going to live in Egypt. Yes, you will die from war, famine, and disease. None of you will escape the disaster I will bring upon you there.’18 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and fury have been poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so they will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will be an object of damnation, horror, cursing, and mockery. And you will never see your homeland again.’19 “Listen, you remnant of Judah. The Lord has told you: ‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Don’t forget this warning I have given you today. 20 For you were not being honest when you sent me to pray to the Lord your God for you. You said, ‘Just tell us what the Lord our God says, and we will do it!’ 21 And today I have told you exactly what He said, but you will not obey the Lord your God any better now than you have in the past. 22 So you can be sure that you will die from war, famine, and disease in Egypt, where you insist on going.” Jeremiah 42:1-22