We're familiar with the concept God's Will will be done no matter the obstacle. We see it in action when tiny David beats Goliath, ancient Sarah gives birth, and Jonathan overthrows a garrison of Philistine soldiers with just his amour bearer. Yet, our text today presents it in a different light to the one we normally associate with it.
For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire. Jer. 37:10 KJV
Yep, it's a little gloomy. A lot of Jeremiah is gloomy as God pronounces judgement on the sinning Israelites. But this verse hit me in a new light.
It doesn't matter what I try to do; God's Will will be done with or without me.
Now, Christians would like to think we are working with God not against Him. I imagine many of the Israelites defending their city thought they were doing the right thing. Jerusalem was God's holy city after all. He'd promised it to them for their inheritance. (Conveniently forgetting they'd polluted God's city and weren't even serving Him, but whoever thinks of those inconsequently semantics anyway?)
We normally envision God on our side, but sometimes, we find ourselves trying to work against Him. It's not always because of sin or judgment. It can be that God is moving us onto a new path and we stubbornly like the old one.
We ought to stop and ask, "God, am I on Your side with this?"
We are so often busy DOING we don't stop to think if we ought to be doing what we're doing.
There is both good and bad news in Jeremiah 37:10. In the bad news, we can wipe out the whole enemy army, but if God was on their side (not ours), He can still prevail with wounded men. We ought to remember and tremble at His Power.
Conversely, the good news is that if the enemy has seemingly wiped us out leaving only wounded behind, we would still be victorious with God on our side.
Examine where you stand because no matter what you or anyone else does, God's Will will be done. And you really want to be on God's side.
Images created by Dienece Darling in Canva