Whose voice are you listening to?
Scripture References: Jeremiah 29:4-9, 11, 13, Jeremiah 44:11-16, Deuteronomy 30:19, Hebrews 13:8
Introduction:
It’s Grad Sunday at First Baptist Church this week! During this season, many of us are likely writing out a few graduation cards. If I had to take a guess, one of the more common Bible verses we may see written on one of these cards is Jeremiah 29:11. You may know it…
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[b] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. -Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
This truly is an amazing message of hope, but as I studied through Jeremiah in recent months I was reminded that this hope represents one of two paths. As I follow Israel’s actions throughout this book, I began to reflect. My son is 5 years old and although his own high school or college graduation is several years down the road…I had to ask myself…If I was writing a graduation card to my son, what message would I write to him? After getting to the end of Jeremiah, the core message is simple…
‘Whose voice are you listening to?’
Why is this the message I landed on and how does it relate to Jeremiah 29:11? Let’s talk about that…
Devotional:
In the introduction above, I mentioned that Jeremiah 29:11 represents one of two paths. Two paths with two outcomes, so let’s look at those two paths individually.
Path 1: Trusting God’s voice
This path is where we find Jeremiah 29:11. Context is important here. This message from Jeremiah is given to the Israelite exiles in Babylonian captivity. Things are not going well for them right now. They’re facing some serious hardships. False prophets have been giving them sugar-coated messages that this punishment of exile won’t last long. They’re being told that they will be back home soon! These are false promises that present a quick escape. God through His prophet Jeremiah is giving a very different message:
4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,[a] 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. -Jeremiah 29:4-9 ESV
God’s message: Settle in. This is not going to be a quick escape. This is not going to be an ‘easy out’. So be fruitful and seek the welfare of the city where you have been exiled. Pray to the Lord on its behalf! Listen to my voice, listen to my message…don’t just listen to the message you want to hear.
This is important to understand. God was not promising immediate comfort. He was calling His people to faithful obedience while they awaited their return to the land. He makes it clear what he desires from them in the following verses…
13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. – Jeremiah 29:13 ESV
God’s plans for restoration were experienced by those who trusted His Word, even if it wasn’t the word they wanted to hear at the time. Christopher J.H. Wright in his book: ‘The Message of Jeremiah’ speaks further into this consistent message given by God’s true prophets:
“And this time we know that Daniel was aware of Jeremiah’s words. Daniel tells us that, at some point in his study of Jeremiah’s prophecies, he understood that the ‘seventy years’ for Babylon must be coming to an end soon. And what was his reaction? Not to call in his friends for celebration, but to respond exactly as Jeremiah 29:12-14 portrayed, by seeking God in prayer and confession, appealing to God to act in forgiving and restoring grace, as God had said he would (Dan 9:1-19)”1
It’s this recognition of God’s grace which is key. When we are earnestly seeking God and listening to His voice, we will eventually come to this point where we recognize that this is a gift of God. What we deserve is judgment, but God extends grace to those who will seek him. This brings us to our second path…
Path 2: Rejecting God’s voice
The prime example for this path comes in Jeremiah 44. Again, context is important. Here, a remnant of people fled to Egypt despite God’s clear command not to go there. Even after Jerusalem is destroyed, they still resist His Word. They flee to what they perceive as comfort and prosperity, rather than obeying what God is commanding…even if God is telling them to do the more difficult thing. Jeremiah confronts this remnant of people with some pretty harsh words…
11 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. 12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. 13 I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives.” -Jeremiah 44:11-14 ESV
There is no sugar-coating…’I will set my face against you for harm’. This is a stark contrast to the message of Jeremiah 29: ‘Plans for welfare and not for evil’. Notice I use the word ‘contrast’ and not ‘contradiction’. One message promises hope, the other speaks of destruction. But the difference is not God’s core message, it is the paths set before those who will listen to His voice and those who reject His voice. God’s message is consistent. ‘Seek me with all your heart’. When Jeremiah presents this path of destruction that the people are setting themselves on, they provide a defiant response:
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you. -Jeremiah 44:15-16 ESV
They make their decision very clear: ‘We will not listen to you.’
They have chosen death and rejected life. The presentation of these two paths are nothing new. God presented these two paths through His servant Moses back in Deuteronomy…
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” -Deuteronomy 30:19 ESV
‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever’ (Heb 13:8). So Jeremiah’s message is not about two different Gods – one gracious and one wrathful. It is about two responses to the same God.
This is why…by the time I got to the end of Jeremiah, I landed on a simple message that I would write in my son’s graduation card if he were graduating today. Maybe I’d add verses like Jer 29:11 or Jer 29:13…but the big question I’d write is: ‘Whose voice are you listening to?’
I pray that our graduates choose to listen to the voice of the Lord. I pray that they each choose life.
Questions for reflection:
- Where is God calling me to trust Him rather than seeking my own solution, or my own comfort?
- Am I selectively listening to God only when His Word aligns with my preferences?
- What voices am I allowing to shape my decisions more than Scripture?
- How does Jeremiah 29:11 become more meaningful when read alongside Jeremiah 44?
When we do choose this gift of life, I pray that we also recognize that this gift is offered only by the grace of God. So as a final reminder, we are fittingly closing our service this Sunday (and this devotional) with the hymn: ‘Amazing Grace’…
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!’
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come:
’tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
The path that leads to life is not always promised to be comfortable. There are many ‘dangers, toils and snares’. It will be hard at times. (Matt 7:13-14, Prov 14:12) We will need to make many decisions to go against what our flesh desires. But in the end, grace will lead us home.
Amen.
Sean Wagner
- Wright, Christopher J.H. The Message of Jeremiah. The Bible Speaks Today. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014. ↩︎