When Advice Has to Agree with the Plan

Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee.

Jeremiah 42:6

Read Jeremiah 41 through 43. Focus on Jeremiah 42:1 through 6, 9 through 22, and 43:1 through 7. You ask several people for advice and feel increasingly frustrated. Each person points toward an answer you do not want. Finally, someone agrees with the plan you already prefer, and you feel that clarity has arrived. The search has ended, but perhaps listening never really began. Jeremiah 41 describes violence and upheaval after Gedaliah's murder. The remaining people have reasons to be afraid. Johanan and the leaders are considering Egypt as a place of refuge from the consequences they fear. In chapter 42, they ask Jeremiah to pray for direction and promise to obey, whether the answer seems favorable or unfavorable. Their words sound fully open. The decision appears to have been placed before God. After ten days, Jeremiah brings an answer. They are to remain in the land. God addresses their fear of Babylon and warns that the dangers they hope to escape will follow them if they insist on going to Egypt. Chapter 43 reveals the condition hidden inside their request. They accuse Jeremiah of speaking falsely and carry the group into Egypt, including Jeremiah and Baruch. They were willing to receive guidance only if guidance approved their chosen destination. Their fear helps explain the attraction of Egypt, but it does not make their promise of obedience genuine. A sincere desire for safety can coexist with a refusal to hear a difficult answer. Our decisions do not carry the same prophetic circumstances, and other people's advice is not automatically God's voice. We still need to evaluate counsel carefully. The searching question concerns our own willingness to be corrected. Have we left any real possibility that a wise answer could change the plan? One clue is how we react to unwelcome information. Do we investigate the concern, or immediately attack the person who raised it? Do we ask for evidence, or simply search for a more agreeable source? Before seeking another opinion, write down what would count as a meaningful reason to reconsider. If nothing could qualify, call the decision what it is. You have chosen, and you are looking for endorsement. Honesty about that posture can reopen the work of discernment. A genuine question makes room for an answer we did not already approve. Without that room, even many conversations can leave us alone with the same unexamined plan. Put It into Practice Name the strongest concern about a decision you favor. Discuss that concern with a trustworthy person without first explaining why they should dismiss it.

What evidence or sound counsel would genuinely make you willing to change your current plan?

Lord, make my requests for guidance honest. Reveal the answers I have ruled out before listening. Help me evaluate counsel fairly and reconsider when truth challenges the direction I prefer. Amen.