Articles
When You're Up Against It
I think it’s safe to say that men generally have a bravado about them, until they are actually up against it.
Throughout the scriptures we find the children of Israel ready to adopt a stature of confidence regarding action and responsibility. When the children of Israel were in Mount Sinai, “Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which Jehovah commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people unto Jehovah” (Exod. 19:7-8). Soon to follow, “Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.” (Exod. 24:18). As the absence of Moses worked upon the people, they “saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him”(Exod. 32:1). That was in the beginning of the nation.
At the end: After Nebuchadnezzar had defeated Judah, destroyed the temple, and carried away the captives, there was a remnant that remained. Nebuchadnezzar had appointed a governor over them, and certain of their number had killed the governor. Thus, they were up against it. What to do?! The people decided to petition Jeremiah to pray for them and seek the council of Jehovah. In so doing, they said, “Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Jehovah our God” (Jer. 42:6). After ten days, the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah with their much wanted instructions: “Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith Jehovah: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. And I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land. But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land; so that ye obey not the voice of Jehovah your God, saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: now therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, If ye indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, whereof ye are afraid, shall follow hard after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.” (Jer. 42:11-16). Sounds like a solid choice, don’t you think? However, being up against it, they said, “And it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, wherewith Jehovah their God had sent him to them, even all these words, then spake Azariah, “saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: Jehovah our God hath not sent thee to say, Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there…And they came into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah” (Jer. 43:1-2, 7).
What of our bravado? YES, we will stand, we will suffer imprisonment, even to our own death and that of our family! Well, at least until we are up against it. Ross Triplett, Sr/.
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