A Few Good Men

Jeremiah 27

In a famous scene from the movie, A Few Good Men, Tom Cruise’s character, Daniel, faces Jack Nicholson’s character, Col. Jessep, in a military courtroom. Daniel demands the truth from the colonel, to which Col. Jessep replies, “You can’t handle the truth.” This is a great movie scene filled with drama and emotion. As I read Jeremiah 27, I’m reminded of this famous line from the movie, a line we still hear often today.

Jeremiah is sent by God to not only prophesy to Judah, but also to the peoples around Judah including Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, Tyre and Sidon. The message to all these are the same.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the people and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever I please. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him even the wild animals of the field to serve him. All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave. (NET)

This is the truth from God Himself. Yet God knows the heart of the people, and anticipating their response, He continues with His message.

You, therefore, must not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” ¹⁰ For they are prophesying a lie to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land; I will drive you out, and you will perish. (NET)

Yes, these people in Jeremiah’s day could not handle the truth, God’s truth. Therefore false prophets would arise and speak an opposite message. Today, likewise, we can’t handle the truth, we don’t want to hear it, or we simply ignore it hoping it’ll go away. The truth is, indeed, sometimes difficult to receive, particularly if the truth is unpleasant as in pending judgment or consequences of a sin. Furthermore, if a voice offers an alternative or opposite message, such as one of comfort or blessing, we quickly embrace the alternative message. In other words we’d rather embrace a lie than accept or face the truth. This is human nature and understandable, but it is wrong for the believer who follows God. Understanding the motivation for an action does not justify the action. Rejecting the truth or refusing to handle it appropriately only makes a bad situation worse. In Jeremiah, those who refuse the truth and listen to the false prophets will be “removed from the land and perish.” Those who accept the truth and subject themselves to the king of Babylon and serve him, God will allow to “remain on their own land, till it, and live there.”

The road to recovery is often through a dark tunnel or through the valley of the shadow of death. If we refuse it, there is no recovery. Just as messages of hardship and doom may not be from the enemy, messages of comfort, peace, and that everything will be alright may not be from God. We must walk daily in humility, faith, and fellowship with God so that we can discern the messages and voices around us. We cannot lean on our own understanding nor rely on precedence as to which is the voice of God. God cannot be put into a box. God can speak through our enemies and the enemy can speak through our friends. We must be in tune with the Spirit and humble enough to receive the truth. We must be on guard of having our ears tickled, and surrounding ourselves only with those who say what we want to hear. (2Tim 4:3) Those who follow God can handle the truth regardless of how unpleasant the truth may be, trusting that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God. Humility, faith, reverence – these will give us eyes to see and ears to hear Him who ever leads us.