As most of you know, in 1988 I enlisted in the Delaware Army National Guard as a chaplain. Shortly after I received my commission, I was given orders to go to chaplain school at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey for eight weeks. Once I arrived on base I was surprised at how nice my billeted room was. I would consider it equal to a 3-star Hotel. It had two double beds, a color TV—with cable—a private bathroom, fully stocked with name brand soap, shampoo, big towels, etc. The room was beautifully decorated. There was even coffee service provided. Every day a maid cleaned my room.
But toward the end of this school there was a week in which things were much more difficult. I say this because all 90 of us chaplains were ordered to leave our cushy quarters and spend a week in the field—so that we would better understand what army life is like for normal, everyday soldiers.
Well, our week “in the field” was the opposite of “cushy.” For example: I slept in a pup tent with no floor. And—understand, this was New Jersey in January. I think I know how Washington’s soldiers felt when he crossed the Delaware that cold December! I mean, to say it was cold would be an understatement. Even with my little Styrofoam mat “insulating” me from the frozen ground and my army issue sleeping bag and two extra blankets, I would just lay there in the dark every night shivering from head to toe. The only good thing is we only laid there shivering about four hours because they didn’t let us go to bed until midnight and they had us up at 4AM. And when I say “they” I’m referring to our drill sergeants—given to us so that we could have the complete “normal soldier experience.” Those guys treated us only slightly better than the regular enlisted men…yelling at us from 4AM until 12Midnight every day. I could hear the enlisted me being yelled at in the next camp—starting at 2AM. Plus—there were no showers. That week, we just lived in the same clothes non-stop. Our meals were mostly MRE’s—high in calorie but low in flavor with entre’s that were more mystery than meat.
After some very disappointing MRE meals, I remember one day choosing one that said it contained beans and franks. I thought: “This has got to be at least tolerable. After all, beans and franks are good even cold. I mean, how can you mess up beans and franks?” Well, the army can mess up anything. They packaged the franks separate from the beans in their own amber-colored “gelatin.” And the beans were mostly mush. The only “good” thing about that meal was, I ate it right before they put us through the tear gas chamber which meant I didn’t keep those “beans and franks” down very long.
Anyway—after two days of cold and rain and sleet and tear gas and poor food and no showers and being shot at on the obstacle course—I laid there FREEZING in my tent and thought, “I’m tired of this. I want to go home. I don’t want to be here anymore.” And that thought occupied my mind for the next five days. I counted the hours until we boarded the buses and headed back to the cushy comfort of Ft. Monmouth.
Well, have you ever felt like that? What I mean is this: have you ever been in a “place” where you didn’t want to be?
Perhaps you are in the military and you remember your boot—or you recall a time when you got orders that sent you to some distant land far from family and friends. Maybe you work for a company that sent you somewhere you didn’t want to go—but every day you thought, “I don’t like this place. It’s not familiar. I don’t want to be here anymore.” There may have been a time when a friend betrayed you and in the midst of your pain you thought, “I don’t want to be here. I’m sick of this. I don’t want to be in this ‘relationship place’ any longer.” You could be someone who is wrestling with grief or financial hardship or a difficult medical diagnosis and every day you think, “I’m tired of this. I don’t want to go through this anymore.”
But—do you know what I’m talking about? Can any of you relate? Has there ever been a time when you were somewhere that you didn’t want to be?
I ask this question because today’s text from Jeremiah 29 tells us of a time when the Hebrew people felt like that. It was 587B.C. and after years of ignoring warnings, God had judged the nation of Judah for their unfaithfulness. Remember? The people of Judah had repeatedly rebelled against the principles upon which their nation had been founded. They had turned their backs on God…so, as promised, God withdrew His protection. The Biblical record shows that over and over and over again God had warned His people that if they continued in their faithlessness He would use a pagan power to conquer them and lead them back into captivity. But those warnings had fallen on deaf ears. So, now because of their foolish infidelity God had allowed the same chosen people He had led OUT OF Egyptian bondage 800 years before—to RETURN to bondage—this time in Babylon.
Well, our text is a record of something that happened at the beginning of those seven decades of captivity. It tells us about the first Jews who had arrived in Babylon and who like me in those cold New Jersey woods—wanted to go home. That’s all they could think about. They didn’t want to be where they were. Understand—these were sad people who had lost everything: their homes, their freedom…and in many cases they had even been separated from their families. They had been brought to live in a strange land with a strange language and unfamiliar customs.
Chapter 29 of Jeremiah includes a LETTER that God inspired Jeremiah to write and send to them. It shows God’s unending compassion because it includes instructions as to how they were to deal with the captivity that was their fault. In His letter God was telling them how they were to face being in a place they didn’t want to be—even though they deserved to be there. I want us to watch a clip that shows a dramatization of when that letter was received. In spite of the limited number of “extras,” I would say it’s still a very accurate rendering of our text.
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CLIP – 6:27-9:09
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You know, ANOTHER reason you and I can relate to the Jews who heard this letter read is because in a very real sense you and I are like them. You see, we are in an “exile” of sorts. I mean, as Christians, this world is not our home. We are just temporary residents. This is what Peter was getting at when he wrote: “Conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war upon the soul.” (1st Peter 1:17; 2:11) You and I live as Abraham did when he confessed that, “he was a stranger in exile on the earth…desiring a better country, a heavenly one.” (Hebrews 11). We used to sing about this fact in the old Royal Ambassador hymn. Do any of you remember these words?
“I am a stranger here within a foreign land. My home is far away upon a golden strand. Ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea. I’m here on business for my King.”
Well, our “alien status” is one reason we find ourselves in situations where we would rather be somewhere else. It’s why we long for a place where there is no heartbreak no loneliness of grief…no fear…no betrayal…no sickness…a place where we feel truly HOME. So, I think there is indeed a great deal we can learn from this portion of Jeremiah. There are principles here that will help us deal with those times when life’s disappointments make us homesick for Heaven. Take your Bibles and turn to Jeremiah 29 and keep it open. Our text is verses 1-14. The first helpful principle we find there is in verses 5 and 6 where our Heavenly Father says that…
(1) …we must learn to be CONTENT.
Follow along as I read these verses to you. God says,“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons…and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.” (vs. 5-6)In other words, our Heavenly Father advises these displaced Jews to, “Bloom where they were planted…learn to be content in this foreign land.”
This is a very important principle for us to embrace because so many times we think, “There must be happiness somewhere else….in ANOTHER place…ANOTHER career…ANOTHER relationship…ANOTHER possession…ANOTHER home…” In short we think that MORE of something will make us happier. We seek more status…more security…more health…more pleasure…more thrills—more of so many things.
Michael Drosnin wrote a book about a man whose name became synonymous with this hunger for MORE. I’m sure this man is familiar to you. Here are some hints. He wanted more WEALTH, so he built one of the greatest financial empires of his day. He wanted more PLEASURE, so he seduced or paid for the most glamorous women money could buy. He wanted more ADVENTURE, so he set airspeed records and designed, built, and piloted the world’s most unique aircraft. He wanted more POWER, so he acquired political clout that was the envy of senators. He wanted more GLAMOUR, so he bought Hollywood, owned studios, courted the stars. Drosnin writes about how this man’s life ended:
“He was a figure of gothic horror, ready for the grave. Emaciated, only 120 pounds stretched out over his six-foot-four frame thin scraggly beard that reached midway onto his sunken chest, hideously long nails in grotesque yellowed corkscrews…Many of his teeth were black, rotting stumps. A tumor was beginning to emerge from the side of his head…innumerable needle marks…HOWARD HUGHES was an addict. A billionaire junkie.”
Well, I wonder—if Howard Hughs had pulled off ANOTHER deal, made ANOTHER million, …tasted ANOTHER thrill, romanced ANOTHER girl, would it have been enough? Would he have been satisfied…happy with MORE of any of these things? (From John Ortberg’s It all Goes Back in the Box)
Well, of course not. His experience and that of so many fools like him show that MORE is a MYTH. MORE never brings us soul satisfaction. As King Solomon put it, “Striving for MORE is nothing but chasing the wind.” This is because we were made for something earth does not have to offer, so getting MORE of the kinds of things this existence provides—always leaves us empty. Remember, like the lyrics of my old Royal Ambassador hymn says, this world is not our home. We’re just passing through. We must remember that as 1st Timothy 6:6-7 says,“Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”
In 1980 Robert Hastings wrote a popular story about an imaginary train ride. His story was called “The Station.” Here is an excerpt:
“Tucked away in the recesses of our mind is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long journey that crosses mountains and plains. We are on a train, and out the widow is an endless procession of cars motoring down nearby highways, children waving up at us from crossings, cows grazing on distant hillsides, fields of corn and wheat curtseying in the breeze, lakes and rivers, city skylines, and village halls. But we don’t really notice. What we keep thinking about is the final destination. We will arrive at the station to marching bands and waving flags. Once we get there, our dreams will be fulfilled.
The jigsaw pieces of our lives will finally be assembled, the picture will finally be complete. In the meantime, we restlessly roam the aisles, checking our watches, ticking of the stops; always waiting, waiting, waiting for THE STATION always wishing the train would go faster. The name of the train is ‘MORE.’ The name of the station is, ‘SATISFACTION.’ ‘When we reach the station, that will be IT!’ we cry.
‘When I’m eighteen!’
‘When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes!’
‘When I get that next promotion!’
‘When I lose weight!’
‘When I get married!’
‘When we have kids in the house!’
‘When the kids grow up and get out of the house!’
‘When I have paid off the mortgage!’
‘When we can afford a second house!’
‘When we finally retire and all the pressure if off, then I will live happily ever after.’We keep thinking that a train called more will get us to a station called satisfaction. But the fact is trying to pursue satisfaction by having more is like trying to run after the horizon.”
Hastings’ point is that the joy is in the journey as we learn to be CONTENT by trusting God to provide for our needs day after day—mindful of the fact that one day we will finally be home. He writes: “‘Relish the moment’ is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24, which says, ‘This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.’ So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, swim more rivers, climb more mountains, kiss more babies, count more stars. Laugh more and cry less. Go barefoot oftener. Eat more ice cream. Ride more merry-go-rounds. Watch more sunsets. Life must be lived as we go along. The Station will come soon enough.”
I would add, join God in His work every day—wherever you are—even if its in a place you don’t want to be. Focus on the needs of the people around you instead of on yourself. Instead of striving for MORE of this world’s stuff, content yourself with investing in things of eternal significance. Do this and you will experience a foretaste of the joy we will know when we finally do get home. Ortberg writes about our arrival in Heaven and says, “On that day we will see God face-to-face. Then our longings for glory, beauty, love, and meaning will be fully realized. Then the restless human race will finally cry out! ‘ENOUGH!’ And God will say, “MORE!”
So—to deal with those times when we don’t like where we are—we must learn to be CONTENT.
(2) Then, in verse 7 God gives us more wisdom for dealing with difficult days. He says, ‘Pray for your CAPTORS.
Listen as I read.“Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” When they heard this read I’m sure the Jews would have been thinking, “You want us to pray for the community that carried us into captivity? Jeremiah, have you lost your mind? These people are the enemies of God! These are the people who ransacked the city of Jerusalem! How can you ask us to pray for these people?” Well, God can ask us to pray for our captors—those people who’s decisions and actions put us in places where we don’t want to be…God can ask us to pray for them…because He is God—and He loves ALL people—even the people who make it their life’s work to make our lives miserable.
In this and dozens of other texts like it, God calls us to follow His example. He doesn’t want us to be bitter toward the people who hurt us. He doesn’t want us to nurture hatred toward the non-Christian world. He wants us to be a blessing to the non-Christian world. I believe God HATES this “us – them” mentality that we embrace so many times as evangelical Christians. He wants us to pray for people even if they don’t always treat us the way we deserve….even if they ignore God’s loving laws and try to make us do the same. As Jesus says in Matthew 5:44, we are to “Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” Listen. Anyone can pray for their kids or for their friends or their pastor. But praying for people we don’t get along with is what makes Christian love different from all other kinds of love. So God says—pray for your captors but He also says “If they prosper—you will too.” And of course He is right because no one ever benefitted from hating another person. Hatred destroys is from the inside out—it makes us hateful, bitter people—so we really do prosper when we love our enemies and pray for them.
When I thought of this principle, God reminded me of Steve Saint, the son of Nate Saint—one of the missionaries who was killed by the Auca Indians of Ecuador in 1956. Listen as I share some of Steve Saint’s testimony. He writes:
“We lived on the edge of the Amazon jungle and my dad was my hero. Instead of having a car in our garage, we had an airplane, which I thought was normal. Everyday I would watch and try to help my dad get ready for the flights he would take that day. Then, I would stand on the bank by our house…and watch dad lift off in his little Piper PA14 airplane and fly off into the jungle. In the afternoon, I would return to that same bank and wait for my hero – my dad – to fly back in from his missions. And I never knew what he would bring back with him. Sometimes he would bring back other missionary kids so they could go to school. At other times, he would bring back Indians who were sick or who had been bitten by snakes and other animals. Every afternoon was exciting as I waited for the plane to return because, even if he came back empty-handed, it was still my dad returning. Then one day, I watched my dad fly off into the jungle, and he didn’t come back. After my dad was gone for several days, my mom took me into her room, and said, ‘Stevie-boy, Daddy isn’t coming home.’ I was confused because I couldn’t imagine anything that would keep my dad away. ‘Why isn’t he coming home?’ I asked. My mom explained, ‘He went to live with Jesus.’”
Can you imagine that little boy’s grief? I’m sure he didn’t want to be in that place. He wanted his dad back. But he must have been raised right. He must have been taught to love and pray for his enemies because he goes on to say,
“A couple of years later, our little home was filled with excitement again. We learned that Dad’s sis-ter, my Aunt Rachel, along with ‘Aunt Betty’ and a Waodani woman named, Da-yume, were making plans to move into the jungle. They were setting out to live with the very people who had killed my dad as well as the four men I called ‘Uncle Jim,’ ‘Uncle Pete,’ ‘Uncle Ed,’ and ‘Uncle Roger.’ They were hoping to establish a connection with the Waodani so that they could tell them about Jesus’ love. One day we got word that their ministry had progressed…progressed to the point that it was safe for my family to join them in the jungle. We moved there and slowly, these same people who had viciously attacked five men I loved and thrown their bodies in the river to be eaten by the fish.
These people took me into their lives. They became Christians. In fact, Mincaye, the one who killed my dad, became like a father to me—and a grandfather to my children. Then when my sister Kathy, and me became Christians, two of the original killers baptized us at the same spot where our father had been killed just a few years earlier.”
Reading his testimony always moves me—because Steve Saint so obviously lived by the principles found in this letter to the Jews in captivity. He had learned to be content even in his grief. He had learned to pray for his “captors.” And in answer to his prayers those men did prosper by becoming Christ followers. Steve Saint would say that he prospered as well. This is a picture of Steve and Mincaye.
Let me ask. Is there someone in your life who has put you in a place where you don’t want to be? Is there someone you hate because of the hateful way they have treated you? Pray for them.
(3) And then in verses 8-9 God says something else. He says don’t listen to bad COUNSEL.
Listen to His Words: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in My name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD.
There were false prophets—Hebrews telling other Hebrews—that they would be going home soon—that it wouldn’t take seventy years. They were insisting that captivity would be over before they knew it and there were probably many ears happy to hear the news. But it wasn’t true! God had said it would be 70 years and that’s how long it would be.
Today we have the modern counterparts of these false prophets—people whose promises seem—well SO PROMISING—as we live in this fallen world that is not our true home. For example:
- Some say if you follow God closely enough you’ll have big houses and big cars and lots of money and perfect health.
- Some say when people hurt you—get even.
- Some say they know when Jesus will come back.
- Some say God does not exist and that there will never be a judgment, so you can live however you want to without regret.
- Some say that all religions are the same—and that Jesus is not the only way to Heaven.
- Some say human beings are simply uppity apes.
- Some say if you do not get your life right this time, you will come back again reincarnated as another person.
I could go on and on. Well, we must not allow ourselves to be drawn in to this bad counsel. Following bad counsel may make you feel better in your “captivity” for a while but in the end it will only bring you more heart-ache. We must build our lives on the infallible truth of the Word of God. This book must be our guide. It’s unchanging truth will help us to stand firm so that,
“we won’t be tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” (Ephesians 4:14)
And then in verses 10-11 we find the most important thing to remember as we go through those times in life where we find ourselves in places we don’t want to be.
(4) No matter what happens—no matter how difficult life becomes—we must remember that God is in CONTROL.
Listen as I read:“This is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
I’m sure as the Jews heard that they were thinking, “You mean we gotta live in this rotten country for the next 70 years? Most of us are going to be dead by then! What kind of a plan is this, God?” But if you look at the Old Testament, you will see that God accomplished several great things in the lives of His people during those seventy years. I’ll just quickly cite four.
First, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were three of the captives that were taken to Babylon. And according to Daniel chapter one, they went on to become three of the best administrators that the country ever had. They became role models for young people all over the world. Second, Daniel—another one of the captives—he was able to interpret the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and as a reward he was made ruler over the entire province of Babylon. Remember when we studied that text? With Daniel’s help, Nebuchadnezzar became a believer in God. In Daniel 4:37, he says,“I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.” I don’t think Nebuchadnezzar would have become a God-follower if it weren’t for the presence of the Jewish people in the land of Babylon. Third—because the Jewish people were able to live in peace under the leadership of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, they had time to write some of the greatest books of the Old Testament. 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Psalm 137—were all written during this seventy year period. And then fourth—and most important of all, during this 70 year “time out period,” the Jewish people began to realize that they needed to get right with the Lord! Their “time out punishment” worked because it gave them time to see that they needed to apologize for the mistakes of the past. They began to see that Jeremiah was right when he said, “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you.” (Jer 4:18)
So when you look at the big picture, you can see that God was working behind the scenes in the hearts and in the lives of the Jewish people—even though they couldn’t see it. He had a plan to prosper both them and us—through their punishment! We should look at this and realize that life isn’t always what it seems!
There once was an old man who was very poor. In an attempt to take care of his family, he pooled all of his money and bought a horse. The people in town thought that this was a foolish thing to do because “things happen to horses.” Sure enough, a few days later, the horse was missing. The town’s people came to the poor old man and said: “Oh what a tragedy!” But the old man was very wise and replied, “We don’t know yet if this is going to be a tragedy or a blessing.” A few days later, the horse returned, and trailing behind him was a herd of 15 wild mustangs. Again, the town’s people came back to the old man and said, “You were right! This was a blessing and not a tragedy.” But, again, the old man answered, “Well, we really don’t know yet if this is a blessing or a tragedy.” A few days later, his only son was breaking in one of the wild mustangs when he was thrown. While lying on the ground, the horse trampled him and shattered his leg. The town’s people returned, saying: “It’s true, what a tragedy! Your only son is now crippled for life!” But this happened right before the war started and all the other young men from the town were called away to war and none returned. When the people from the town came to speak to the old man, they said, “Now, we understand.”
Do you get the point of the story? You and I can’t judge the effects of the good or bad of life. We don’t have the necessary perspective to do so. Things that look bad—may actually be good in the long run. And as Christians we can trust that this is ALWAYS true…for we are children of the One who reigns. By reading this book—by looking back on our lives we can see and know that our sovereign God is always weaving the events of life into His grand design for our lives and our world. We can know that a Proverbs 16:9 says,“The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.”
My friends, God’s plan isn’t always what we think it’s going to be. But God’s plan is always best—even if we don’t understand it at the time—even if we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel—even if we would never have chosen this path for ourselves. Even then we need to trust, that, “…in all things, God works together for the good of those who love Him.” So—if you are in a place where you don’t want to be—heed God’s loving instruction. With His help, learn to be CONTENT. He will help you find joy even in your difficulty. Pray for your CAPTORS—pray for those people who make your life hard. Don’t trust bad COUNSEL—build your life…make your decisions based on the Bible. And then, hold onto the fact that God is always in CONTROL. He is working behind the scenes to prosper you.
God says one more thing in His letter. In verses 12-13 He says,“You will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” I love this promise because it reminds me that in the hard times of life when I’ve cried out to God He has heard. He has listened—and He has drawn near to me. I want us to all bow our heads. Right now—pray—call on God. Ask for His help. Ask Him to help you to trust in His providence and power. Ask Him to help you be content…to pray for your captors…to trust His plan. And if you are not a Christ follower then I encourage you to seek God. If you do—you will find Him.
LET US PRAY