The Goodness of God

“Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, ‘Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the Lord your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but a few of many, as you can see), that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.’” Jeremiah 42:1-3

“All the people from the least to the greatest” sought to speak with Jeremiah. This is the first time in the book that Jeremiah was so widely pursued. Usually, he had to do the pursuing. He had been traveling with them. Hence the expression, “came near.” They asked him to pray for them. They wanted God to confirm their plan.

They were literally at the crossroads! After the Mizpah massacre, they fled from their vineyards and fields to Chimham. Chimham was a lodging place for traveling caravans. It was close to Bethlehem. From Chimham they planned to travel 200 miles to Tahpanhes, Egypt. They would build a new life there.

They were fleeing the land in fear of King Nebuchadnezzar’s sword. One distant day in the future, Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus would make the same trip from Bethlehem to Tahpanhes to avoid the sword of King Herod.

“Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, ‘I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.’” Jeremiah 42:4

Jeremiah was often ignored by others, but he assured this group of people that they were heard by him. He would seek the Lord on their behalf. He would share everything that the Lord gave to him with them. Jeremiah was like Samuel, Paul and Jesus in this regard. 1 Samuel 3:18 says, “Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him.” In Acts 20:20, 27, Paul said, “I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.” “For I have not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God.” In John 17:8, Jesus said to the Father, “I gave them the words You gave Me.”

“So they said 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

Their words seemed reassuring. Like when Peter told the Lord in Matthew 26:35, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” Wonderful words, but would they truly honor them?

“And it happened after ten days that the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, and said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: if you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him, says the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand. And I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.” Jeremiah 41:7-12

Ten days later, after he had heard from God, Jeremiah gathered the people. He gave them the good news first. The good news was that they did not need to travel 200 miles to Egypt. The Lord did not to flee from King Nebuchadnezzar’s sword. God promised to build and plant them here. There would be no more major disasters. He would be with them. He would compel King Nebuchadnezzar to have mercy on them. He would return their lands back to them.

Psalm 22:28 says, “The kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations.” Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” The Lord is well able to compel king’s to do His will. I have seen the Lord move authority figures to do His will numerous times on my behalf. Glory to God!

The Jews did not believe the good news. In Mark 1:15, Jesus told His listeners, “Repent and believe the good news.” Why would our Creator and Savior not give us good news?

It seems to me that like Peter when he walked on water toward Jesus, they took their eyes off God and focused on worst their fears. In Matthew 14:22-33, Peter saw Jesus walking on the water. He responded with words of faith, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” At Jesus’ command to come, Peter walked on the water, but when he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink and cried out to the Lord for rescue. Jesus rescued him, but said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

For Jeremiah’s audience, the horrible experiences of their past determined for them what God would do for them in the future. A Jewish man had murdered the Babylonian appointed governor over them. He killed Babylonian soldiers. Surely, King Nebuchadnezzar would pursue them. They saw themselves as homeless fugitives fleeing for their lives. They assumed God would not save them. They had to save themselves.

Jeremiah must have seen the doubt in their faces, so he gave them the bad news...

“But if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God, saying, ‘No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell’—Then hear now the Word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: if you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die. So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.’” Jeremiah 42:13-17

The Lord had spared these poor people from Babylonian captivity so that they could take root and flourish in the land. Their existence had always been by His grace. God would surround them with favor as with shield if they simply trusted in Him and followed His lead.

Jeremiah gave them good counsel as one of them, Johanan, once gave to their governor. Johanan had warned Governor Gedaliah of the Jewish man who intended to assassinate him, but Gedaliah rejected his counsel. Now, God was warning this group of people via Jeremiah not to go to Egypt. If they did, they would be slain by swords, famine and pestilence. God knew the battle plans of Babylon. They were going to eventually attack and overcome Egypt in 300 BC.

“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: as My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more. The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, do not go to Egypt! Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.’ And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything which He has sent you by me. Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell.” Jeremiah 42:18-22

The remnant was unhappy with Jeremiah’s answer. We will read of their response in the next chapter. They wanted Jeremiah to make God say what they wanted to hear.

In Matthew 26:39-44, while in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked His Father three times to take a cup of suffering from Him. He also, prayed three times, “Not My will. Your will be done.” Jesus did what the Father wanted Him to do. Likewise, in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul prayed three times that a messenger from Satan would depart from him, but the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Having thus heard from the Lord, Paul accepted God’s will for him. He resolved, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” God gives grace to us as we walk with Him in His will for our lives.

In 2 Corinthians 5:7, Paul wrote, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” In Luke 7:9, Jesus marveled at the faith of a Roman Centurion. The man truly trusted in Him. He believed Jesus could order miracles to happen as a commander orders a soldier to do a task. Jesus remarked to the Jews around him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” In Luke 18:8, Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

God wants believing believers. How can we say that we trust in God to raise us from the dead and to grant us an eternity with Him when we don’t trust Him for small things? In Luke 11:10-13, Jesus said, “Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

I like the message of the song by Bethel Music and Jenn Johnson, entitled, “Goodness of God.” The first stanza says, “I love You, Lord. Oh, Your mercy never failed me. And all my days, I’ve been held in Your hands. From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head, oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. All my life You have been faithful. All my life You have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.”

The survivors in Judea needed a prayer life. If they prayed to the Lord directly, He would have spoken to them directly. Instead, they asked someone to do their praying for them, but when he did, they did not have an inner witness that his words were from God.

1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural man is used to being a god unto himself. He wants God to do his will.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” Those who know and love God are at peace with His guidance. “They have tasted and seen that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.” (Psalm 34:8)

Jeremiah was openminded to hear from God. The Spirit of God gave wind to his prayers and helped him to hear God’s voice. In Numbers 11:29, Moses said to Joshua, “Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” If the remnant had ears to hear from God, they would have had peace to plant themselves in Judea.

What about us today? Seven times in the Book of Revelation, Jesus asked people with ears to hear what His Spirit was saying to them. [1] Are we listening? Are we believing the good news? Are we singing of the goodness of God?


[1] Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22