Jeremiah 42
by Pastor David Groendyk

How many times will Judah make the same stupid and sinful mistakes over and over again? They never learn. After killing the Babylon-appointed (and God-ordained) governor over the land, the people intend to flee to Egypt in order to outrun the wrath of the Babylonian king, which is exactly what Zedekiah and his officials had tried to do back in chapter 39 and exactly what the Lord had warned the people not to do (see Jer. 21:8–10). They’re still bucking up against and fleeing this God-appointed chastisement. Moreover, as we’ll see tomorrow, despite how genuine the people sound in their plea to hear a word from God in verses 2–3 and 5–6, they have zero intention of obeying God if the answer from him is unfavorable.

Here is a great warning regarding the noetic effects of sin, which means the way sin affects our minds and our thinking. Sin infects our brains like a virus and makes us think funny. One way we see this is in the way we continue to go back to our same old sins, even though we should know better. “Like a dog returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly” (Prov. 26:11). We know our sin hurts our loved ones, makes us feel ashamed, and never delivers the full satisfaction and pleasure that we thought it would, but still we go back to it like a dog to vomit thinking that this time will be different, this time it won’t let me down, this time no one will get hurt. Spoiler alert: Judah will try to run, but Judah will not escape Babylon’s wrath. Though Judah tries to run the same play over and over again, they keep getting beaten. What are your pet sins or besetting sins, the ones you find yourself falling to over and over? What truths can you teach yourself now while you’re not under the power of that temptation to help you fight that sin in the moment?

Another way we see the noetic effects of sin in this passage is similar to what we might call “confirmation bias” today. I’m sure we all know someone who falls prey to this tendency. Confirmation bias is the idea that we only look for and accept the information or evidence that supports and confirms our prior beliefs while ignoring or discrediting the evidence that undermines our beliefs. The idea is that it doesn’t matter how much evidence there is to the contrary, we will so passionately hold to our beliefs that we are no longer reasonable or logical. In our chapter, the Judean people weren’t actually looking for objective guidance and information from God; they were looking for God to confirm what they already wanted to do. It’s a lot like what Pastor Lawrence mentioned in his sermon this past week. Oftentimes, when we’re looking for a sign from God, we’re just looking for confirmation to do something we’ve already made up our mind on. It doesn’t matter how firmly God has told the Judean people NOT to go to Egypt (and notice how repetitively and how certain God makes his warning), they still think it’s a good idea to run. When we go to God asking for guidance, it’s not wrong to have preference before going to God in prayer; but we must hold the preferences that we think are so wise and sensible loosely. It takes a lot of humility to accept God’s will when it is opposed to our own. Let’s all pray for more of that humility to hold our own desires loosely for the sake of following God’s.

Finally, you might be wondering, “Well, if sin is so blinding, how in the world do we defeat it?” The answer is the promise in verse 11: “I am with you to save you and to deliver you.” The presence of the Lord with us is how we gain the clarity and strength and humility to see and to overcome our sin. I don’t know the last time you heard the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39. Take a moment to refresh yourself with it. That story is often preached and taught to encourage Christians to flee from temptation. And, as Christians, we do have the responsibility of continuing to flee sin and temptation more and more as we grow. But the strength behind Joseph’s ability to flee is what is easy to overlook in that chapter. It’s the presence of the Lord! Three times in that chapter it says, “The Lord was with Joseph” (vv. 2, 21, 23). God’s presence is the difference between being saved or not saved. So continually seek him and ask him for his help, and he will be there to deliver you from your sin.