Jeremiah 27:1-7 – Nothing can happen to us without God’s permission

King Zedekiah, the son of Josiah was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar. This Babylonian king had Zedekiah’s nephew Jehoiachin deposed and taken captive to Babylon. It was also he who had his name changed to Zedekiah from Mattaniah. However, early in Zedekiah’s reign, he did something that was tantamount to treasonous. He sought to form a coalition with Edom, Moab. Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon to come against Babylon. So here in Jeremiah 27:1-7, the prophet Jeremiah was sent by God with a message to the emissaries of those kings whom Zedekiah was seeking to form an alliance with. They were told to take the message home to their kings.  

The message God had for them came through an illustrated sermon. Jeremiah was instructed to make a yoke and put it around his neck. A yoke, as we know, was an implement that was used to put around the necks of two oxen to pair them together so that they could move in tandem with each other. Obviously, God was not for this alliance. He was making known that whatever Nebuchadnezzar was ordained to do was part of His plan. He was and still is the only one who would sovereignly determine the destiny of nations and men. No one, whether man or beast, could or would be in any position where He had not ordained. And no one now or ever could change the course of His plan. But at this juncture in history,  God had ordained that every nation both people and beasts would come under the control of Babylon. Hence no one would be able to take her down till the time God her regime ended.  

Clearly, God wants us to know that He is in sovereign control. Our lives are in His hand.  Nothing can ever happen to us outside of His will and plan. Everything, positive or negative, can only happen to us by His permission. Hence, we must learn to accept them while seeking the lessons He wants to teach us through them. We must practice what Paul exhorts us to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22,  ^“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully: hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”