A Fatal Mistake

Today's Reading:
Jeremiah 42:1-44:23
Matthew 2:13-3:6
Proverbs 8:12-21 
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Focus Verses: Jeremiah 42:19-21
19 "O remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, 'Do not go to Egypt.' Be sure of this: I warn you today 20 that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, 'Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.' 21 I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you."

Insight:
It is a mistake to ask God for direction and guidance if you don't plan to listen to him. To know what the Lord tells us to do, and yet fail to obey it, is sin.

Response and Action:
If I want to know what God wants, I must be ready to live that way. If I am asking God for direction and guidance, I must be careful to obey and follow him.

O God, show me your ways. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Give me ears that are quick to listen, a soft heart that is ready to receive your word, and a readiness to obey and follow you. Amen.

Spiritual Formation Verses: James 4:13-17

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Resources:
Jesus: Lord and Savior
by F. F. Bruce