Readings for today: Jeremiah 29-32
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
If only I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this verse quoted at a graduation, wedding, seen it on a t-shirt or coffee mug. It has become cliche. A platitude we like to use to support the fulfillment of our dreams and desires. It’s why proof-texting is a dangerous business.
Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse embedded in a story. A tragic story. The story of Israel’s exile. They have lost their home. They have been forcibly removed. (Think Trail of Tears or something like it...) Their leaders have been tortured and put to death. All of their cultural icons - including the Temple of God itself - have been razed to the ground. In short, their collective identity as the people of God suffered a massive hit, leaving behind an emotional and spiritual crater that will not be easily filled. Especially not as they rebuild in a foreign land.
Think about the collective shock we’ve felt during this COVID season. Public health models predicting millions of deaths. Hospitals filling up. Cities on lockdown. A robust economy crashing to a halt. Businesses shuttered. Jobs lost. As the weeks turned to months, frustration reaches a boiling point. Then George Floyd is killed. Thousands of protests fill the streets. Peace gives way to violence as the sun set in many of our cities. Looting. Rioting. Burning. At times, it feels like society is on the verge of collapse. As bad as the last several months have been, imagine what would happen if groups like Antifa or the Proud Boys or some other extremist group had their way? Imagine anarchy breaking loose not just in a small autonomous zone in Seattle but across the country. Imagine what would happen if their rhetoric actually became reality? Our political and social leaders imprisoned, tortured, and killed. (After all, anything is justified in the fight against pure evil.) The systematic destruction of every monument we’ve ever built. Washington. Lincoln. Jefferson memorials all destroyed. Arlington. Mount Vernon. Monticello. All burned to the ground. Imagine them trying to erase “America” from the face of the earth. (It’s actually not all that hard is it?) This is what the Israelites experienced and as they begin to settle into captivity. Into slavery. Into their new lives as strangers and foreigners in a new land…they receive this letter from Jeremiah…
“Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.” (Jeremiah 29:5-6) In essence, live your lives. Do what you’ve always done. Don’t spend your days looking back at where you’ve been but forward to the future.
“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:7) Pray for your enemies. For those who destroyed your way of life. For those who killed your loved ones. Conquered your land. Burned your cities. Destroyed your nation. And don’t just pray. Actively seek to bless them. Bless their city. Bless their communities. Be salt and light in this new place.
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” (Jeremiah 29:10) Settle in for the long haul. This is not going to quick or easy. You will be in exile for generations. Your children and children’s children will be born here. You may actually never return home yourselves.
It is only AFTER all these difficult things have been said that Jeremiah pens the words we love to quote so much, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)
Friends, the hard truth we don’t like to think about very much is that God’s plans for us often include exile. Suffering. Hardship. Pain. God uses things as tools to knock off the rough edges of our lives. To refine out all the impurity. To strain out all the sin. His “good” plans for us that give us a future and a hope include taking us through the fire so that we can be made pure and holy as He is pure and holy. Seeking God with all our hearts means trusting Him with the direction of our lives...even when that direction doesn’t appear to be comfortable or safe. It means letting Him lead and guide us into dark valleys where all we have is His presence. It means trusting the Good Shepherd to eventually find us green pastures and still waters though the journey may be long and arduous to get from here to there. This is what Jeremiah is trying to communicate to his people as they start their heartbreaking, gut-wrenching exile in Babylon. God is with them. He has not forgotten them. He will eventually redeem them. This is their hope! This is their future! And though they themselves may not actually get there, they can trust God will bring their descendants home.
Readings for tomorrow; Jeremiah 33-37