Finally, I was stunned to see the people oblivious of why they were suffering and choosing to go back to it. They blatantly admitted they prefer idol worship not realizing how disgusting that act was to God. They actually believed their blessings came from their unfeeling idols. Wow! Jeremiah 44:26 struck me on their behalf, they were not going to be able to call on the Name of the LORD ever again. How will they survive ? Actually this is the final submission. Ezekiel 33:31 took me to a modern day church. People come pretending to be interested in what the preacher has to say, they seem sincere in church and get right out of character after it ends. They listen to sermons they do not plan to live by and even have the guts to ‘mark’ the sermon or the preacher. Is our heart really in the right place ? May God have mercy on us … truly!

A couple of things stood out to me in today’s read. I was amazed how the people sought to inquire of the LORD, they swore to obey whatever the LORD said regardless of what He said only to disobey as soon as they heard the Word. I also found it interesting that the LORD who knows all things knew that they will disobey so that the prophecy ended with “ so you can be sure you will die from war, famine and disease in Egypt where you insist on going” and even after, they still went. (Jeremiah 42:21-22) Yet another thing from 42 was touching to read. V. 10, God did not just reassure them of the good to come but He added that He was sorry about all the things He had done.

“All you need is repentance” is a phrase I heard from my sister, OAfia yesterday referring to Adam &Eve. And Jeremiah 44:10 reiterated this. We will falter, we will sin, we will make mistakes but once we come to the realisation, we ought to go to God remorseful and repentant instead of allowing fear, guilt and pride to hold us back thereby drawing us deeper into sin and further away from our loving Creator and forgiving Father

What again stood out for me in Ezekiel 33:21-33 -We go to church, listen to sermons, enjoy worship and all the performances, get emotional, make promises to change and then once we leave, we go back to doing the exact things we said we wouldn't do.The verse 32 says they listened to Ezekiel like he was singing a beautiful song. They enjoyed the message, but it didn't change them. The danger here is that we can enjoy hearing God's Word without actually living it. Again a reflection for me will be that when I leave church, does what I heard actually change how I live?

They Kidnapped Jeremiah, thinking his prophecies will not happen since he will be in Egypt. The hearts of the Israelites was really hard. Going back to Egypt felt like undoing everything God had done for the lsrealites.

Jeremiah 43 is interesting because the people asked Jeremiah to seek God's direction, but when God gave them an answer they didn't like, they rejected it. In the verse 2 they basically accuse Jeremiah of lying .Sometimes we don't actually want God's direction,we want God to approve the direction we've already chosen. It made me wonder when I pray for God's direction, am I genuinely willing to obey, even if His answer disrupts my plans? Will I go ahead and do what I intend to do already if it doesn’t align with my plans? Am I ready to face the consequences of my disobedience ?

What stands out in the passage (Jeri 42,43) is the danger of seeking God’s direction while already having a preferred answer in mind. They were willing to hear from God only as long as His instruction agreed with their own plans. The passage therefore shows that genuinely seeking God requires not only asking for His direction, but also having the willingness to obey it, even when the answer is difficult or contrary to what we desire. Do not ask God for direction with a predetermined intention to obey only if the answer agrees with what you have already decided. Genuine submission to God means being willing to follow His instruction even when it is difficult, inconvenient, or contrary to our plans.