Jeremiah 42:6 (ESV) – Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”

I’m sure you have been in situations where you weren’t in charge and you had to follow the plans or directions of someone else. It makes it worse when you think those plans are wrong. People experience this at work. It could be experienced on a sports team you play on. These things could happen on a ministry team at church or from the words of a teacher at school. In those cases, the only thing you can often do is go forward even though you don’t agree.

We see this in our text today as it relates to listening to God. There are many times we don’t like what God has commanded or instructed. This shouldn’t surprise us. We are sinners and our hearts and minds don’t always align to truth. But what should we do in those moments? Obey God. We read in Jeremiah 42:6, “Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”

God doesn’t command bad things. The issue here is whether we consider it bad. “Bad for me” is in mind. But it doesn’t matter whether we think something is good or bad, we obey God. When we obey God it will go well for us. God blesses those who listen to His voice. We don’t always have to like it, but we must obey it.

This is applicable in so many ways. Perhaps we want to spend all the money we make instead of giving generously to the church. We should obey God anyway. Maybe we have sexual desires we’d like to fulfill, but they fall outside the parameters of a covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. We die to ourselves and obey God. It could be that someone hurt us and we don’t want to forgive them. We want to punish them. But we give that up and forgive as Christ commands us. This is what it means to belong to Him. We obey.

One of the differentiators between God’s people and the world is that we listen to and obey what He says. Strive to honor Him with your obedience today, even when it goes against what you’d personally prefer.

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Reflection & Journal:
- Why do we often think some of God’s commands are “bad”?
- What things should we remember and think about when we find ourselves not liking something God commands or expects?
- How does today’s passage help us in our daily walk?

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