June 7, 2020
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil,
to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
People love sharing encouragement and hope through the above Bible verse, yet the full message may have had the opposite effect on some of its original recipients. The Babylonians decimated Israel and carried the most influential to exile in Babylon. Shortly after the people were carried away from their homes, God sent a prophet to share these words. He explained that these hardships were the result of seeking other things more than seeking God. Immediately before these oft-quoted hopeful words, God proclaimed they would remain in this foreign country for 70 years, meaning most of them would never return to their normal lives.
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.” (Jeremiah 29:10 NIV)
I cannot begin to imagine the pain of being ripped from family and friends and carried off to another country where everything was strange and different. Yet, in a small way, many of us are experiencing the loss of our own normals due to a virus. In addition, whole segments of our society feel exiled from the American rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We haven’t been dragged off to a foreign country against our will, but our day-to-day lives are filled with terms foreign to us not so many days ago: self-quarantine, social distancing, Covid-19, shelter-in-place, and N-95 masks. Instead of a daily commute, many of us are working at home or not working at all. I have friends who live a few short miles away, but they might as well live in another state for as often as I see them these days.
Likewise, those who are marginalized feel like they are treated as foreigners. All across our country, protests demand acknowledgment of grave injustices and dichotomous realities.
So when we find ourselves living in a place that we would not choose, what are our options? We can let our frustrations grow one drop at a time until the dam breaks. The pent up anger will eventually explode, destroying our emotional and physical health. Or we can justify bad behavior by saying that “hurt people hurt people” and shift the blame to injustices of the past. But neither of those choices fit God’s counsel in Jeremiah 29. His message for the Hebrew people at that time exhorted them to bloom where they were planted.
My husband has been bothered by all the media talk about the “new normal.” He does not like the way things are right now and balks when he hears the term. He tries hard to focus on the idea that these changes are temporary. But that hopeful timeline becomes more extended day-by-day. A vaccine may take longer than initially thought. Governments mandate and extend mask usage and social distancing rules. Businesses close and unemployment reach record levels. The stock market tanks. Police abuse their authority, and a man dies. Looters overtake peaceful protests. People experience grief due to the loss of jobs and loved ones. Others suffer anxiety and fear as the world they’ve known changes before their eyes.
I tend to focus on losses and wring my hands over the things that I cannot change. Satan tempts me to act like a helpless victim and to stop striving and simply survive.
Yet even as all these circumstances change around us, God remains unchanged. He’s still on the throne and here is what He told the exiled Hebrews:
“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. Also, 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.” (Jeremiah 29: 5-8 NIV)
God wants us to thrive, even in the midst of what feels like exile. Our true home isn’t here anyway. He calls His people to be ambassadors, serving as positive influences in their societies. He asked the Hebrews to seek the peace and prosperity of Babylon. He reminded them that they would be the benefactors of a stable society both emotionally (peace) and physically (prosperity). He encouraged them to enjoy the fruits of their labor. He told them to build healthy families and keep on living life to the fullest, even in the midst of their struggles.
I need to hear so many of these things today.
I have to admit that many days I have more anxiety than peace. Grief over lost friends and relationships. Pouting over a missed vacation. Sadness that I can’t hug my widowed mother 800 miles away. A job transition that is in its ninth month and still incomplete. A sense of social isolation that culminates in unrealistic expectations from the few people I see face-to-face. Being disappointed when unrealistic expectations are not met. Fear and unrest over civil liberties that are being curtailed. Anger over social injustices. Temptations to harbor even greater anger at those who leverage tragedy for self-gain. These musings bring me down. They steal my joy. When I let them linger too long, they paralyze me and encourage me to retreat even further into an introverted shell.
But then God speaks. If He encouraged Hebrews in a foreign land to thrive and prosper, I know it’s possible for me to do so, too. So I’ve been looking for ways to engage and so have my friends and neighbors.
As facilitator of a writer’s critique group, I was tempted to cancel meetings until we could once again meet face-to-face. Instead, I’ve fought through technical issues galore to help the group participate in virtual meetups.
Our immediate family has worked extra hard to spend more time together in both face-to-face and online formats. In spite of innumerable video and audio challenges, my husband has worked with church leaders to broadcast a weekly church service. We spend dozens of hours each week on home improvement projects. Today Mike contacted a children’s home to invite the kids to swim in our pool. All of these things have been examples of investing in our current circumstances. Friends have done likewise. One friend spent last Friday evening helping scrape paint off our barn and her husband spent today helping us put up trim. Another dropped off a care package with food and treats. A neighbor lent us his scaffolding. My next-door neighbor has given away hundreds of masks and encouraged me in my own mask-making as we’ve shared tools, materials, tips, and techniques. These are the moments when I’m most alive.
As we each struggle with our own challenges, it’s ok to be sad, frightened, or confused. We live in a broken world full of broken people. We may be tempted to dull our pain through self-medication, avoid our pain through withdrawal, or release our emotions through aggressive behaviors, but God suggests a better way. He begs us to pray to Him for peace and prosperity for our society. Even while acknowledging the hardships, He gives us the freedom and encouragement to live the abundant life no matter what our present circumstances look like. He reminds us that we will thrive as we invest in loving people, working hard, and enjoying life.
As Solomon looked back over his experiences in life, he offered this insight:
I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 NIV)
Paul was another Biblical author who claimed God wants His people to have joy:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV)
All these verses give me permission to smile and not feel guilty about it. They remind me that I can live a life full of meaning and purpose no matter what is going on around me. They encourage me to invest in today rather than wait for things to get better tomorrow.
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