I didn't know this before

I was reading this morning from Jeremiah 27-29 and came across this:

8"'"But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the LORD, until I have consumed it by his hand. 9So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon.' 10For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the LORD."'"

Like I know, I probably shouldn't have been surprised...but I was. God warned the people that Nebucadnezzar was coming, and that if they submitted to old Nebbie, that they would be fine - life wouldn't be easy, but it would be better than the alternative. That if they listened to all their "prophets, diviners, dreamers, fortune-tellers and sorcerors" and disobeyed the word of the Lord that they would be in a worse situation. That worse situation being

"with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish"

So they had a choice, obey God and be servants/slaves in their own land OR disobey God and be servants/slaves/dead in a foreign land.

Personally, if it was me, I'd rather stay at home and work for a foreign master where I kinda know what's going on... Than to be dragged...and that's what I picture...being dragged off in chains (so I wouldn't run off and cause trouble) to some land where I
1. wouldn't know the language
2. wouldn't know probably anyone
3. wouldn't know the land and where to go if things got down right nasty

I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard to be ruled by some foreign country that doesn't have your best interests at heart, but it would be better I think to stay home in a familiar place where at least you have more of a chance to do okay for yourself. AND if I knew that it was what God wanted.... well then, that would settle it for me. :)

I wonder sometimes though, the people of Israel and Judah had so many voices that they could listen to - prophets, dreamers, soothsayers etc..- and it seems that Jeremiah was the only one truly speaking for God. It must have been so hard for the God-fearing to only hear him, and then to know that it was God speaking, and not just another false prophet.

Kinda like today in some ways... though in this world we have LOTS of godly men and women who truly listen to the Lord and speak his words clearly to us, we still, as believers, need to discern which is the right voice to listen to. It's a hard thing sometimes... because false teachers can be sneaky. And sometimes they don't even know that they really are false teachers. Ah, that the Holy Spirit will guide and protect us and we strive to learn more of God and his ways.

That's all I can really say today.