NullPointerException when attempting to get Remote config instance with FirebaseRemoteConfig.getInstance()

[Tapasya Kollimarla]

Non-fatal Exception: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to read from field 'int com.google.android.gms.internal.q.a' on a null object reference

       at com.google.firebase.remoteconfig.FirebaseRemoteConfig.getInstance(Unknown Source)

       at com.google.firebase.remoteconfig.FirebaseRemoteConfig.getInstance(Unknown Source)

       at com.google.firebase.remoteconfig.FirebaseRemoteConfig.getInstance(Unknown Source)

below is the proguard mapping 

com.google.android.gms.internal.zzaji$zzc -> com.google.android.gms.internal.q:

    int zzbTG -> a

    boolean zzbTH -> b

    void <init>() -> <init>

    com.google.android.gms.internal.zzaji$zzc zzUJ() -> a

    boolean equals(java.lang.Object) -> equals

    int hashCode() -> hashCode

    void writeTo(com.google.android.gms.internal.zzamc) -> a

    int zzy() -> c

    com.google.android.gms.internal.zzaji$zzc zzR(com.google.android.gms.internal.zzamb) -> a

    com.google.android.gms.internal.zzamj mergeFrom(com.google.android.gms.internal.zzamb) -> b

From vague understanding of the obfuscated source code, I feel that the persisted_config file is getting corrupted on slow networks and is never able to recover.

Is it fine if I catch this issue and delete the persisted_config file from the files directory and attempt to get the instance of FRC ? 

PS: we have tried this with 9.4.0, the issue seems to be fixed but we have to revert back to 9.0.0 due to various other crashes with google play services 9.4.0.