"'You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, "Do not go to Egypt to live there"'" (Jeremiah 43:2).
The people of Israel were notorious for their stubbornness. Most of the time they didn't even bother to ask God's opinion on anything, and when they did, half the time they didn't listen, anyway. They suffered under the delusion that they knew better than the all-knowing God, convinced that they who couldn't know what would happen even a second into the future could plan their days to perfection.
The people were especially fixated on the idea that a place could solve all their problems. When they were liberated from Egypt in the days of Moses, they rejoiced in the promise of a homeland all for themselves, where they could finally be free. When the journey there became too difficult, though, they longed for Egypt again, remembering how well off they had been. Now that their land had fallen under the dominion of Babylon, the people again looked with envy at Egypt, a country still independent of this nation-conquering empire. Surely there they could find the permanent security they yearned for.
So obsessed with the tangible, the people missed what God was trying to teach them. Everything in this world is fragile. No country is truly safe, able to give us whatever we need and capable of protecting us from all harm. Only God Himself can do that.
But like the Israelites, we usually look for security in a place or a person. We seek safety in what we can see, in what's in front of us right now, forgetting that God can see what happens in the future. The nation that stands like a rock today might be drowned by the tidal wave of war tomorrow. The person we trust to never leave us might betray us.
Only God is trustworthy. Only God is capable of giving us true security. To look for it anywhere else is to seal our own sorrow.