A Future and a Hope
God's Ways are Remarkable and We Should trust Him! Jeremiah 29
We look at events , situations, and people and our views are just that--- our views. God looks at the same situations, events and people, and says, " I am going to do this; just trust me." That does not always ring our bells does it? We are for the most part not open to it, that is God's ways are not our ways, and that is very difficult. But that is the point, for we do not see Him to face yet in this life. We see through the glass darkly. It helps to set the scene.
In Jeremiah 29, our First Reading ( from Morning Prayer) we see this kind of situation. The nation of Israel was going to go into exile into the land of Babylon and prophets as Hananiah said this was not true. Jeremiah stood up and said Hananiah was a false prophet. The LORD told Jeremiah to say in front of all that Hananiah would die within the year and the people to leave the land of Judah, and go to Babylon. Imagine that! Would if such a word came to us. You are to leave the US and go to Russia or Iran and live there. What would we say?
Jeremiah's message was God's message even though that no one wanted to leave their home in Jerusalem and go to a land ruled by a king named Nebuchadrezzar. Some of the people did not leave Jerusalem even though Jeremiah through God's own voice had told them to do so.
God was saying to trust Him . He was saying through Jeremiah that they could go to a new land and " build houses....plant gardens...seek the welfare of the city to which I have carried you off, and pray to the LORD for it....( New English Bible ) Jeremiah 29"
How many of us would obey? And even deeper how many of us would hope that God would make it happen ----that He would bring us back in 70 years as He told Jeremiah? Would we have hope that God's future was the one we should receive? Have you heard of Anne Frank? When I was writing this in my mind, I thought about her. She was a Jewish girl whose diary became very famous after the Nazis invaded Netherland. She is remembered even now , " The Diary of a Young Girl remains one of the most moving and widely read firsthand accounts of the Jewish experience during the Holocaust.
Anne Frank's diary endures, not only because of the remarkable events she described, but due to her extraordinary gifts as a storyteller and her indefatigable spirit through even the most horrific of circumstances. For all its passages of despair, Frank's diary is essentially a story of faith, hope and love in the face of hate. "It's utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death," she wrote on July 15, 1944. "I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more."
She died in the concentration camp . Her father was the only member of the family to survive who was in a different place from the rest of the family.
This is the background of Jeremiah and this is the background of Jeremiah 29 :11 , a very famous verse. Unfortunately many people quote it out of context and it is not just a blanket promise but should be seen in the light of our own obedience to God in our own situations.
" For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." KJV
For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your [i]fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’ New American Standard Bible
On this Sunday which is the day before we remember the English Reformers, Reformed Catholics, who did so much for the Anglican Communion, let us thank God for His Ways and His Directing Love.
We look at events , situations, and people and our views are just that--- our views. God looks at the same situations, events and people, and says, " I am going to do this; just trust me." That does not always ring our bells does it? We are for the most part not open to it, that is God's ways are not our ways, and that is very difficult. But that is the point, for we do not see Him to face yet in this life. We see through the glass darkly. It helps to set the scene.
In Jeremiah 29, our First Reading ( from Morning Prayer) we see this kind of situation. The nation of Israel was going to go into exile into the land of Babylon and prophets as Hananiah said this was not true. Jeremiah stood up and said Hananiah was a false prophet. The LORD told Jeremiah to say in front of all that Hananiah would die within the year and the people to leave the land of Judah, and go to Babylon. Imagine that! Would if such a word came to us. You are to leave the US and go to Russia or Iran and live there. What would we say?
Jeremiah's message was God's message even though that no one wanted to leave their home in Jerusalem and go to a land ruled by a king named Nebuchadrezzar. Some of the people did not leave Jerusalem even though Jeremiah through God's own voice had told them to do so.
God was saying to trust Him . He was saying through Jeremiah that they could go to a new land and " build houses....plant gardens...seek the welfare of the city to which I have carried you off, and pray to the LORD for it....( New English Bible ) Jeremiah 29"
How many of us would obey? And even deeper how many of us would hope that God would make it happen ----that He would bring us back in 70 years as He told Jeremiah? Would we have hope that God's future was the one we should receive? Have you heard of Anne Frank? When I was writing this in my mind, I thought about her. She was a Jewish girl whose diary became very famous after the Nazis invaded Netherland. She is remembered even now , " The Diary of a Young Girl remains one of the most moving and widely read firsthand accounts of the Jewish experience during the Holocaust.
Anne Frank's diary endures, not only because of the remarkable events she described, but due to her extraordinary gifts as a storyteller and her indefatigable spirit through even the most horrific of circumstances. For all its passages of despair, Frank's diary is essentially a story of faith, hope and love in the face of hate. "It's utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death," she wrote on July 15, 1944. "I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more."
She died in the concentration camp . Her father was the only member of the family to survive who was in a different place from the rest of the family.
This is the background of Jeremiah and this is the background of Jeremiah 29 :11 , a very famous verse. Unfortunately many people quote it out of context and it is not just a blanket promise but should be seen in the light of our own obedience to God in our own situations.
" For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." KJV
For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your [i]fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’ New American Standard Bible
On this Sunday which is the day before we remember the English Reformers, Reformed Catholics, who did so much for the Anglican Communion, let us thank God for His Ways and His Directing Love.
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