Jeremiah 28

Prophet drama! If there had been a Jerry Springer Show on Israeli TV, this would certainly have been an episode. Jeremiah has already made waves by going around wearing a yoke on his neck to symbolize the enslavement of the Israelites to the Babylonians. Then, in a stunning turn of events in front of a packed house at the temple, a rival prophet sweeps the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and breaks it to pieces:

“This is what the Lord says,” said the (false) prophet Hananiah, “‘In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.’” (vs 11)

There was just one problem: that’s not what the Lord had said. The Lord had said that if the people of Israel didn’t repent and turn from their evil ways, they would find themselves in bondage to the Babylonians. They didn’t listen, and the Babylonians had already conquered them. The Israelites still weren’t interested in listening to God, and with false prophets running around telling the people “what they wanted to hear,” why should they have bothered to listen to God?

But whether they were listening or not, God was still speaking: “After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ‘Go and tell Hananiah, “This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him.”’” (vs 12-14)

Here’s the ironic thing: for many years, the Israelites had been running after any and every false god they could find. This included the gods of Babylon, of which King Nebuchadnezzar was a chief representative. To worship and serve him would be to worship and serve the gods of his land. Isn’t that what the Israelites had been after all along?

For years, God had pleaded with His people to stop chasing false gods and be true to Him. Instead, they had decided to continue to pursue gods who didn’t exist, gods who could never care about them, gods who could do nothing for them. And, in effect, God said, “What you want is what you get. You want to worship Babylonian gods? Okay! You will serve the king of Babylon!”

God is so into freedom that He will give us what we want if we insist on having our own way. Even if its contrary to His plan for us, if we are determined to ignore His will for our lives, He will eventually surrender Himself to our choices.

Think of that! God has given us the power to make choices that He will surrender to (if needs be). What other god in Biblical (or any other) history is described as conceding such power to his underlings? What other god would grant such freedom?

Only our God. He values our freedom so much that He will give us what we want.

That ought to make us very careful about what we wish for!