He Knows What He’s Doing
We finally have a touch of fall, with some rain and cooler weather. I attended the monthly “Professionals for Seniors” breakfast. It is always amazing to see the number of individuals and organizations mobilized to provide a variety of services to seniors. Other than that is was a low key day with my Chiropractor appointment later in the day.
BIBLE VERSE TODAY… This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says to all those people I sent away from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon: “Build houses and settle in the land…Have many children in Babylon; don’t become fewer in number…Also do good things for the city where I sent you as captives. Pray to the Lord for the city where you are living, because if good things happen in the city, good things will happen to you also….This is what the Lord says: “Babylon will be powerful for seventy years. After that time I will come to you, and I will keep my promise to bring you back to Jerusalem….“And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place, but I will gather you from all the nations, from the places I have sent you as captives,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back to this place.” Jeremiah 29:4-14 NCV
I remember when I was in my first pastorate. The church was growing and that attracted people who often had their own agenda. I recall the remark of one lady, who in exasperated tones commented, “You really do know what you are doing, don’t you?!” How do you respond to a comment like that? I think I said, “Yes, I do!” and smiled.
God’s people weren’t sure if God really knew about them and what He was doing. So, they wanted to help Him out and insert their own agenda into their future. The Lord sent His prophets in an attempt to get the attention of His people and communicate His plans.
Jeremiah had prophesied for twenty-three years without much response. He faced deaf ears on one hand and the threat of death on the other. Whatever he said was the opposite of what the King in his wisdom thought should be done. Many Jews had been taken captive to Babylon and it was only a matter of time before the Jerusalem and land would be completely taken over by Nebuchadnezzar and his armies. The Lord told the people “this is my plan, submit to my discipline through Babylon.” But they couldn’t believe that was really God’s plan.
God knew that hearts of His people and what it would take to see a change. The land of God’s people would rest for 70 years. God used an ungodly nation to punish an ungodly people. And then the Lord would bring an end to the power of Babylon and would use the succeeding nations to restore God’s people to their land. All of this was foretold by the prophets.
In the mean time, God’s instruction was for them to relax, adjust, multiply and work for the good of the land in which they lived. But they were to do so, knowing that their time, in a foreign land, would one day come to an end. It is in this context that the Lord speaks the well known words, “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NCV)
In our lives we need to have confidence in the Lord, that He knows what He is doing. The circumstances around may not look like it. We are often tempted like Gideon to ask, “If you are with us, why is all this happening to us?” (Judges 6:13 NIV) In our lives we walk by faith and trust in the Lord in the present and when we get to a point of deliverance from our troubles, we are able to look back and see the evidence of God’s hand working in the circumstances of our lives. We find the view from the mountain top is greatly difference from the view in the valley.
It is difficult to “relax” and to make the most of our painful circumstances; but that is often what the Lord call us to do. It is during the captivity of God’s people that we see the accounts of Daniel and the “three Hebrew children.” It is during this time we see the account of Queen Esther; we see the Lord reveal Himself to Nebuchadnezzar and other Kings as the powerful Lord of God of all the earth. It is often in those “valleys” and our painful experiences that we see God’s miraculous work. Sometimes that happens even in and through those who do not follow Him.
Finally using the parallel of the Promised Land to Heaven (our eternal home), we are to remember this world, this life is not our permanent place of residence. For us it is a “foreign land.” Yet, we are to maintain our trust in the Lord; we are to pray for and seek the well being of the country in which we live, knowing that one day the Lord will come to take us to our eternal home.
In our personal lives, in the affairs of this world and God’s people we need to remember the Lord still, knows what He is doing. Even when we don’t have the details or understand how that can be the case, we can look at His history and know that He never changes. I believe our God is still sovereign over the affairs of people and nations.