the prophet Jeremiah is someone I'm growing to admire more and more. called by God to be His voice to the people of Israel, Jeremiah had to share a lot of hard words with a people who basically never wanted to hear it. at one point he is, through the word of the Lord, preparing the people for their captivity by the Babylonians (isn't it crazy that God punished them but still gave them all these warnings and helpful hints?...). he's telling them, "if you go to Babylon and don't fight it, things will be okay. God will watch over you, then bring you back to the land He has given you." then there's a group of them who decide they're going to go to Egypt to flee captivity, but on the way there, they stop and ask Jeremiah to pray and ask God what to do. Jeremiah consents, and (ominously) says that he won't hold back anything from them that God tells him. the people say that no matter what, good or bad, they'll listen to what God will say.

Jeremiah waits a few days, hears from the Lord, and then reports back to the people. he tells them that if they go to Egypt, they will surely die from God's wrath. he also tells them that it was a fatal mistake for them to even ask God to speak to them when all along they were planning on going to Egypt. true to Jeremiah's words, they didn't really want to hear from God. rather, they wanted a different answer to a question they'd already been given an answer to. they accused Jeremiah of lying, then continued on to Egypt, on a journey that, sure enough, ended with their prophesied deaths.

when I was a kid, I liked to ask my parents "why" when they wouldn't give me the answer I wanted when I asked them a question; it usually pertained to getting permission to do something with friends, or being punished for something and trying to get out of it. my dad's favorite response was, "do you really want to know, or do you just want to argue with me?" honestly, I usually just wanted to try to change his mind, but I'd insist that I only wanted to know why. I really wasn't fooling my dad, and the Israelites weren't fooling God in this passage in Isaiah.

the implications here are pretty obvious. one of my favorite songs says that if we fall in love and hold nothing back from God, He will do the same for us. that sounds really nice, but what of the practical application? the Israelites said they wanted to hear from the Lord and that they would do what He said even if it wasn't what they wanted to hear. God wasn't fooled by their request; He gave them the answer they didn't want to hear and they got offended.

Paul says that "godliness with contentment is great gain." are we willing to be content with the unanswered questions, or even answers that we don't want to hear? what about when we screw up and have to face the consequences; do we humbly repent and seek after God, or getting offended that He didn't get us out of a jam? I am reminded lately that if I am asking things of God but not actively looking for His reply - especially a reply that I may not really want - I'm in the same rut as those Israelites: the ones who wandered in the desert, who
fled to Egypt and were killed, and underwent disaster due to their idolatry. God, show me your truth, not just a truth that I want to hear, or think I deserve. give me answers that will conform me more to your heart and your desires, not just what I think is best.