‘You [Baruch] said, “Ah, woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and have found no rest”’ ... [the LORD says]"I will give your life to you as booty in all the places where you may go.’”

Baruch is given his life for trusting the LORD. This seems little consolation to him, who appears to be suffering sorrow upon sorrow. Yet, he gets no more than what Jeremiah also received. The weeping prophet also was simply given his life for trusting the LORD. Moses was allowed to see but not enter the Promised Land for his many years of serving the LORD. 

It is easy to look at these rewards and think that they seem paltry compared to what was suffered for the LORD. Job would have probably preferred to forgo the multiplied blessings later in life if he could have simply avoided the arduous trials God brought upon him. 

Friends, I believe these examples are given so that we do not set our hope on temporal rewards. The LORD is teaching us that He Himself is our great reward. So God tells Abraham in Genesis 15:1, "I am your shield, your very great reward." Jeremiah writes in the Book of Lamentations, "The LORD is my portion...Therefore I have hope in Him" (Lamentations 3:24). It is not for this life that we serve the LORD. The Apostle Paul reminds us, "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied" (1 Corinthians 15:19).

No, dear friends, we look forward to our eternal home. We are only only "foreigners and exiles" here (1 Peter 2:11). Our true citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). Therefore, let us not serve God with His temporal benefits in mind. Let us set our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1-2). Then, we will have a right perspective as we navigate this present life. 

Johanan was right about the treachery of Ishmael against Gedaliah, the governor of Judah appointed by Babylon. But the deed was done. Gedaliah was dead. Ishmael was still at large. They had to flee to Egypt because Babylon would certainly return to exact revenge for the assassination of their appointed governor. But before they crossed over into Egypt, they thought it wise to consult God's prophet, Jeremiah, all of whose prophecies had come to pass. They said to Jeremiah,

May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the Lord your God will send you to us (Jeremiah 42:5).

Now, while they were wise to consult Jeremiah, they were fools to put themselves under oath to obey his word if that was not their sincere intention. Thus, when Jeremiah tells them to stay in the land and not to go to Egypt, they reject God's Word. In so doing they invoke the very curse they imposed upon themselves. So Jeremiah tells them, "You made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God" (Jeremiah 42:20).

Friends, how often do we seek to hear from God? But are we truly ready to obey His Word? It is not in simply hearing that we are blessed but in obeying:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do (James 1:22-25).

Therefore, friends, let us not be forgetful hearers but sincere doers of God's Word. If we seek wisdom from God to guide our lives, He will only give it to the extent that we are both willing and ready to obey His guidance (cf. James 1:5-8). Why would God give us more wisdom if we neglect to do the wisdom He has already given?

"We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine." (Jeremiah 44:16-18 NIV)

The remnant in the Land of Judah are determined to go to Egypt, even against Jeremiah's word from the LORD not to do so. Now, we get a glimpse of their inner reasoning and expectation. They thought that when they were worshipping their idols, particularly the Queen of Heaven, they were blessed. The also believed that their present disaster was because they stopped worshipping her.

But Jeremiah tells them that they have misinterpreted events:

"Did not the Lord remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials and the people of the land? When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today. Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see." (Jeremiah 44:21-23 NIV)

The times they had plenty was not because the Queen of Heaven blessed them but because the LORD was being patient with His people. It was when His patience could not longer bear their idolatry that He brought the present disaster upon them. The very incense they burned to the Queen of Heaven, as well as all their other idolatrous practices, were what instigated God's wrath against them. 

Finally, Jeremiah tells them to go ahead and fulfill their vows to the Queen of Heaven and see what it gets them (Jeremiah 44:25ff), for God was determined to judge them. Since they did not submit to the LORD, they would learn their lesson the hard way, namely, by being destroyed.

Friends, let us not make this mistake in our time, thinking we know better than God, wrongly interpreting events and attributing blessing to our own ingenuity rather than giving glory to God. Rather than being misled by our eyes and thoughts, let us completely trust what God says in His Word. 

I noticed today what our hearts are inclined to do. Our flesh tainted with sin will not choose God because it does not seem attractive nor easy to follow Him. It dawned on me that God could've or would've made an image for himself and instructed Israel to serve Him since they were so prone to worshiping images. Instead what He gave them was law to observe and even the law was not easy to follow, either, because of their sinful nature. Today the Goodnews has been announced to the ends of the earth, but the news is not a triumphant story. It is rather a story of humiliation and defeat and sounds like a well-written novel at best when it comes to the essence of the story - resurrection. The means of His salvation is not charming at all unless our eyes are open by His grace. God could manifest himself to everyone on earth in a majestic way and prove that He is real just as His word says. If He loves everyone and saving all is His intention, how come he chose the means of humiliation for salvation? It is true that His beneficent love is given to everyone through nature but does He really love all human beings so that they may not perish for good? If that were true, why did God choose unattractive, difficult way for salvation?

 He will have mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and will have compassion on whom he wants to have compassion. These days seeker-friendly churches are so popular and prosperous. Are there really seekers of God without gospel being preached to them? Are they really seeking God or their own contentment? Psalmist says that there's no one righteous, not even one, no one who seeks after God. We are nothing but pitiful sinners without God's abundant grace just like the remnants in today's reading who would not listen to Jeremiah. Are we any better than they? No. Not at all! Praise be to our God who chose to rid us of our blindness so that we may seek God and His instruction!

Friends, listen to what the remnant of Judah says to Jeremiah,

Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you. Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God (Jeremiah 42:5-6).

After such a solemn commitment to follow whatever the LORD says, whether good or bad, you would expect hearts ready and willing to obey whatever Jeremiah says. But no. After Jeremiah speaks, they change their minds:

You speak falsely! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to dwell there.’ But Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon (Jeremiah 43:2-3).

They had already made up their minds to go to Egypt. They only wanted God to bless their plans. When they did not receive His blessing, they turned to their own gods, even the so-called "queen of heaven," (Jeremiah 44:17) to direct them.

They gave "lip service" to God The true devotion of their hearts was to themselves and to their own plans. How many of us go to church, sing the choruses, and give our "Amen!"s, and go through the motions of our own self-styled worship, but never truly seek God in His Word? Do we only listen to His Word when it sounds agreeable to us or when it serves our purposes?

How do you know if you are truly following the Lord or whether you are just seeking your own way? God has already and clearly spoken to us in His Word. Ask yourselves...

Do I meditate on His Word day and night so that I may grow in my faith? (Psalm 1; Romans 10:17).

Am I seeking God's purposes above every other interest that I have? (Matthew 6:33)

Am I loving my wife self-sacrificially, caring for her, and teaching and guiding her in the Word? (Ephesians 5:25-31)

Am I respecting my husband by humbly submitting to his leadership? (Ephesians 5:22-23).

Am I making disciples by influencing those around me with the Gospel and the Word of God? (Matthew 28:19-20)

Am I displaying the love of Christ by sharing, helping, encouraging, visiting, and caring for my brothers/sisters in Christ? (John 13:34-35).