What To Do When You Are In Exile
Jeremiah 29:1-13
by S. M. Henriques
Folks, I have been so eager to bring you this message of hope and good news this morning. I am truly excited about what God wants to say to you and me today.
Suppose that this afternoon, a group of soldiers was to storm into your home, and at gunpoint, force you to leave everything you own—all your possessions and accumulations. Suppose that you were taken to another country, where you were told you had to live there the rest of your life. Suppose that you didn’t know where all the other members of your family had been taken. And all you had was what you were able to carry on your back. That would be called an “exile.”
None of us here is in a literal exile, of course. But we all know what it feels like. Don’t we all know the feeling of being in a complicated and difficult environment that feels sometimes as though we are in a foreign land? We find ourselves being forced into an unpleasant situation we would never choose for ourselves, and it looks as though it will never end. Some of the Jewish people found themselves in a situation like that. The 29th chapter of Jeremiah tells part of their very interesting story. It actually contains a letter that Jeremiah wrote to the Jewish exiles that had been deported by the Babylonians some time before. When they were deported, they did not travel in a caravan of moving vans—they took with them only what they could carry. They had been taken forcefully from their homes, losing everything they had. To make matters worse, they had been separated from many of their family members and friends.
Back in Jerusalem, Jeremiah learned that they had been given some false information, and because of that, he realized that they really needed someone to step up with a word of encouragement from God. He gave them some very practical ideas as to what they could do while they were in exile. We find that these are the very things we can apply to our lives for those times when we feel that life has forced unpleasant, uncomfortable and even painful circumstances upon us. What can we do while we are in exile?
1. Face reality
There’s a humorous story about Judge John Lowell of Boston. One morning the judge was at breakfast, his face hidden behind the morning paper. A frightened maid tiptoed into the room and whispered something to Mrs. Lowell’s ear. The lady paled slightly, then squared her shoulders resolutely and said, "John, the cook has burned the oatmeal, and there is no more in the house. I am afraid that this morning, for the first time in seventeen years, you will have to go without your oatmeal."
The judge, without putting down his paper, answered, "It’s all right, my dear. Frankly, I never cared much for it anyhow." (Bits & Pieces, March 4, 1993, p. 23.)
The perception Mrs. Lowell had was that the Judge had to have his oatmeal every morning, and so for 17 years she had seen to it that he got it. But the reality was that he didn’t like it anyway. Jeremiah 29 opens with a letter that the prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiles, particularly to the elders and priests who were among them. He was trying to get them to face reality. He wanted them to know a few things about the situation they were in. The gist of what he told them is that even though you don’t want it to be this way, and even though you would wish it to be entirely different, the reality of it is that you’re in a situation that is not going to be resolved overnight.
We’ll talk about this again later, but there was at least one false prophet who was telling the people not to worry, because they wouldn’t be there long. A message like that might give hope, but it is only a false hope. It is empty, void of meaning and life. We like to think we can bear anything as long as we know there will be an end soon. And that probably is what kept the people going. So what’s wrong with that? It was a false hope. Once a period of time had gone by, and the people saw that nothing had changed or was likely to change in the immediate future, the bottom would fall out of their hope and morale.
One husband arrived home very early in the morning, after being out all night, drinking and brawling. He sneaked up the stairs quietly, doing his best not to awaken his wife. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he’d received in one of his fights that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he’d pulled one over on his wife. But when morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk last night weren’t you!" "No, honey."
She replied, "Well, if you weren’t, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?"
Jeremiah wasn’t putting band-aids on the mirror. He was telling them to face the reality of things. The reason the Hebrew people had been carried into exile in the first place was because it was a part of the judgment of God, and it was not something that was going to end very soon. It certainly was not a very popular message. The people wanted to hear that God would turn this around for them in a short while, and they would all be allowed to go home and pick up with their lives and possessions just as before. But that’s not what Jeremiah told them. Instead, the message he had for them basically was this: “God knows what He is doing. He has a plan. He is in control of that plan. There is a reason for what you are going through.”
One of the first very practical things we can do while in our own personal exiles is to face reality; accept the situation with courage and faith in Almighty God. Put yourself into His loving hands, for He makes no mistakes. The reality is that the unpleasant circumstance we may find ourselves in may not change today or tomorrow or the next day. In fact, it may never change. But that’s only part of the reality—the rest of it that God is in charge, and we can trust Him.
2. Don’t give up, v. 5a
God told them in verse 5a, Build houses and settle down. God was telling them that it was not time yet to go home, and that they needed to maintain the normal routines of their lives. The most accurate translation of this phrase is Build houses and live in them. They needed to understand that it was not an accident that they were in Babylon. True, the sins of the nation had led to this result, but God was in control of the situation. He knew what He was doing, and it was important that the people not give up. It was vitally important that they keep trusting Him, and not give up.
By telling them to build houses—by even communicating with them—God was letting them know first of all that He had not forgotten them. He makes it clear in verse four that He was actually the one who had sent them into exile. This was His doing, and He was in charge. When He tells them to build houses, He is communicating to them that He had not washed His hands of them and walked away.
During a Monday night football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, one of the announcers observed that Walter Payton, the Bears’ running back, had accumulated over nine miles in career rushing yardage. The other announcer remarked, "Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!" Walter Payton, the most successful running back ever, knows that everyone --even the very best-- gets knocked down. The key to success is to get up and run again just as hard. (Jeff Quandt, Irving Wallace, Book of Lists, 1980.)
Without this word from God, the Hebrews might have been lulled into a deadly inertia. We are much the same, are we not? During distressing times, we especially need to pay close attention to what God says in His Word. Without that guidance, we might be lulled into thinking that it’s no use, that nothing matters, that it’s all over. Furthermore, it is a lot easier to bear up under the adversities of life when we know deep in our hearts that God is in charge of the situation, whatever it is. God is in control. There is a reason for all this that you might be going through. Trust Him to take care of you. Don’t give up!
3. Plan for the future, v. 5b-6
In verses 5b-6, God said, … 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. When we plant gardens around here, our intention is that they will last only a short while; we will be eating from them soon. But the Hebrew word used here designates a walled orchard, containing a grove of trees. It would have been one thing for God to tell them to plant butterbeans, and eat them, but quite another to tell them that they should plant an orchard of trees, and wait for them to produce fruit.
He also makes reference to their families—get married, have children, let them grow up, then find husbands and wives for them. You’re going to be there a long time—long enough to eat fruit from the trees that you plant, long enough to watch your own children grow up and get married. Get busy making plans for your future.
When we are in our own exile, we may be tempted to bog down in the ugly details of life. It may be difficult to visualize what tomorrow will be like, much less plan for next year, or beyond. But that is when it is most necessary. God is not finished with us yet, and in spite of the way things may look at any given moment, it is important for us to realize that God has a plan, that He knows what that plan is, and that He is going to be faithful to keep all the promises He has ever made. He has a future for us, and for us to sit down and act as though there is no future is to deny the inexplicable love of our Heavenly Father.
The sun goes down today, but the eyes of faith allow us to see that will rise tomorrow. While in a difficult situation, we who know Christ should not act as though there will not be a tomorrow—because there will be! And He will be King and Lord tomorrow, just as He is today.
There are other things we can do, and we will look at them next week. But for this week, let’s work on these three things while we are in exile: Face reality, don’t give up, and plan for the future. Know that God is in control, and He has a plan. Trust Him.
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