AP

Jeremiah 41:1-3  In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah.  While they were eating together there, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.  Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there.

Here is a good example of why we need to always keep the instruction of Psalm 1 ever before us, to reject the ways of the world and to delight in, and meditate on, God’s Word ‘day-and-night’.

I have no doubt the man ‘Ishmael son of Nethaniah’ would have managed to think up many ‘godly’, ‘spiritually commendable’ reasons to justify his murdering of Nebuchadnezzar’s appointed Governor of conquered Judea.  This bit of ‘clever’ casuistry would have been necessary to camouflage his real reason(s) which would have included his own personal resentment because he was not chosen to be the Governor, as well as his own idea (along with countless others) of how to deal with the Babylonian conquest instead of accepting God’s word through Jeremiah that going willingly to Babylon was part of God’s Sovereign Plan.  And what happens in the following chapters as a consequence of his wicked action does not make for pleasant reading.

How important it is for us to be obedient to God’s Word, even, and especially, when it doesn’t align with our limited ‘logic’ or understanding.  We need to walk humbly and obediently in the light of his Word, accepting that ‘“whatever God ordains is right” and waiting patiently, and in humble trust, for his Sovereign love and power to fulfil his faithful purposes in us.

“[God’s] purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour; the bud may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower.  Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain” (William Cowper).

“I will trust my Saviour, Jesus, when my darkest doubts befall; trust him when to simply trust him seems the hardest thing of all.  I will trust my Saviour, Jesus, trust him when my strength is small, for I know the shield of Jesus is the safest place of all” (Cityalight Music).  [Apologies for persisting in quoting the same hymns so often, but, even as a ‘non-musically-gifted’ person, I nevertheless get great comfort from the lyrics of hymns.]

– Bruce Christian