I recently finished reading the book of Jeremiah. Out of all the prophetic books of the Bible, I must say that Jeremiah is one of my favorites. One of the stories that really spoke to me is in chapters 42 and 43:

"Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do."

"And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.
Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you."

"But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:...Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die."

-Jeremiah 42:1-3, 7-10, 13-14, 16

"And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words, Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:"

"So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD"

-Jeremiah 43:1-2, 7

So, as we have just read, these men came to Jeremiah and asked him to go before the Lord and seek instruction on their behalf. They said that it didn't matter if the answer was "good or evil", they would do it.

Ten days later, Jeremiah hears from God. He gathers everybody back up and gives them the Word: they had to stay in Israel. The Lord even gives them promises of prosperity if they are obedient to this command (42:10). But, despite the fact that these men had promised to do whatever God said (see 42:5-6), they called Jeremiah a liar and went to Egypt anyway.

You might ask, "Why did they even go to God in the first place if they were just going to do what they wanted anyway?" But the fact is, they had already made up their minds what God's answer was going to be. Far too often, professed Christians ask to hear only what pleases them (II Timothy 4:3-4), expecting God to simply validate their own desires, instead of giving them the truth.

If we are going to let the Lord be a "lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path" (Psalm 119:105), we have to lay aside our preconceived ideas of how things should be and allow God to have His way.