It’s one of those stories that just makes you cringe. You read the account and you know this is not going to turn out well. One of those cases where it would have been better if they had never said a thing rather than stand up and speak up in some pious manner. But they did . . . and I cringe . . . and it’s a warning to me . . . don’t ask if you already know the answer.

So here’s the deal . . . Jerusalem has fallen to the Babylonians. They have destroyed it . . . a lot of people have died . . . many more have been taken captive back to Babylon . . . a remnant of the poor have been left in Judah and given land to tend . . . and a governor has been put in place to watch things for the king of Babylon. There’s been a coup where the governor has been overthrown . . . and a counter coup re-establishing some level of stability in Judah. But they are still under Babylonian control . . . and the leaders think it’s time to take things into their own hands and head to Egypt for protection.

Queue the question . . . “Then all the guerrilla leaders, . . . and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached Jeremiah the prophet. They said, ‘Please pray to the LORD your God for us. As you can see, we are only a tiny remnant compared to what we were before. Pray that the LORD your God will show us what to do and where to go.’ ” (Jeremiah 42:1-3 NLT)

Fair enough . . . sounds good . . . desperate uncertain times call for divine wisdom and guidance. Jeremiah comes back and says, “Ok, but know that whatever the LORD answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.” (42:4) And the people’s response is, “You bet. Bring it on. Whatever He says we will do . . . wherever He directs we will go . . . that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.” (42:5-6)

God, through Jeremiah says, “Stay in the land under Babylonian rule and it will go well with you.” The people say, “No way! Are you kidding me? That’s not what we were expecting or wanting to hear? That makes no sense. Jeremiah, you’re not speaking God’s word . . . you’re speaking falsely. We’re going to Egypt! That’s what makes sense to us . . . that’s what God really wants us to do.” (43:2-4) They didn’t like the answer . . . it didn’t line up with their thinking . . . it didn’t suit their view of what God’s will had to be . . . they asked the question . . . but they already knew the answer.

And the problem is diagnosed by Jeremiah, “For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and according to all that the LORD your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.’ ” (42:20)

They were playing the God game . . . they were going through the motions hoping the answer they wanted would be the answer God would give them. They weren’t being honest with Jeremiah . . . or God . . . or themselves. The were leaning to their own understanding and were hoping that God would endorse it . . . that they would find a verse in the Bible to support it . . . that they could do their own thing with God’s blessing. And God, through the prophet, calls them on it.

And so I cringe. It would have been better to have just done their own thing than to have tried to act under a pretense of “desiring God’s will for me life.”

He knows the answer . . . I need to ask the question . . .and, in asking the question, sincerely want God’s voice . . . and His mind . . . and His answer . . . even when it’s not what I would have thought the answer to be. How I need to have a true heart that desires my “Plan A” to be His plan . . . for my well being . . . and for His glory . . .