One of the repeated problems Judah consistently faced – a problem of their own making most the time – was the tendency to trust familiar options and apparently safe choices in the face of God’s Word. In particular, the Judeans were consistently tempted to trust in the might and power of Egypt – despite Egypt never having been a friend or help to them – in the face of God’s repeated Word about not returning there. Their destruction was assured at the point they, dragging Jeremiah with them regardless of his Word to them about the consequences of doing so, determined to go back to Egypt rather than trust God’s promise that they would be safe if they remained in Jerusalem and submitted to Babylonian rule.

That same issue is not unique to them. The modern world is full of things we might trust in over the Word of God. Most of us in the West live with such an abundance of wealth, and in such ways, that it is easy to convince ourselves that we can control all aspects of our lives. We can easily fool ourselves into thinking that we don’t really need God at all because our career, house, wealth, pension, family, friends and whatever else will work for us. It is easy to prioritise decisions that appear to make us more secure rather than those decisions that would prioritise acting in faith in line with the Word of God.

Tim Challies recently shared one such example. Many people think nothing of upping sticks and moving for the sake of a job promotion, a pay rise or what have you without thinking of the spiritual implications or making the decision with any meaningful gospel intent. It is easy to prioritise what we think will make us secure – better jobs, making ourselves indispensable to our employer, increasing our salary, securing a career future – over the priorities of scripture. How many Christians do you know who have purposefully rejected promotion or actively moved into a worse job because they had gospel priorities, freeing them up to serve in the church or not moving to such a place as there is no credible church? It is all too easy to work towards what we assume will secure us rather than what God’s Word says we ought to prioritise. I am sure you can think of all kinds of examples. It is only too easy to reject the promises of Christ and push towards leaning on our own understanding of security.

The big question is whether we are pressing into gospel priorities or we are effectively setting them aside in favour of what we think will ultimately secure our future. The sad fact for the Judeans is that God promised them a future and they failed to grasp it by trusting in their own sense of what would serve their security. The same is true for us. If we insist on seeking security in things outside of Christ, we will find that we squander the offer of a real future in him.

As believers, we need to ask ourselves honestly if we are pressing into gospel priorities and seeking after Christ’s kingdom first or whether we are seeking to secure our own future, by other means, and pressing into decisions that are not taking us to Jesus but ultimately away from him.