“Until Then…” – (Jeremiah 29:4-9)
One of the more familiar phrases from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is ‘how long, not long, but to some, the question would beg how long and I believe an appropriate response is: “until then.” I say this because we must understand that there are times when we will face difficult transitional periods in our lives that may cause us to feel uncomfortable in our present condition and uncertain about our future. When such times occur, we should trust that God can provide instruction and assurance for our future during difficult times.
A transition is a period when something changes from one state to another. This is what we find here in the Book of Jeremiah. The nation of Judah has been taken into captivity in Babylon and their situation does not look promising and it is as if God has forgotten them. They are in captivity in a foreign land and their future does not seem promising. But God provides a way for them. As believers, we too can sometimes find ourselves in desperate situations while carrying out the plan that God has for our lives. Although Judah was in exile God still spoke to Jeremiah. God sent a word of instruction by letter.
Verse 5 contains the first thing from the letter. It says, “Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.” Jeremiah was telling them that their time in Babylon would not be short, even though rumors had spread and would be spread that was saying something different. Rumors were saying that their time in captivity was nearly over. To counter this false claim God provided them with instructions on how to prepare to stay there for a while and survive. As believers, we are reminded that in our most difficult times, we are still required to remain productive and build. With all that is occurring some may feel a desire to give up. But I stopped by this morning to encourage you not to give up—hang on in there for a little while longer. Working overtime on your jobs just to make ends meet; trying to make it to Church School, Bible Study, raising a family and all of whatever else that is on your things-to-do list which competes for your time. With all of these things competing for our (time and) resources, we are still instructed to build. We can still build our faith; we can still be faithful in our prayer life. Even in our transitional period, there should still be action. God shows us here that just because we at a transitioning point that we are not to be non-productive.
After being encouraged to be productive, Jeremiah in verse 7 instructed to seek (welfare) peace. “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” Can you imagine being taken away from your homeland and then being told by God to seek peace for those who displaced you? I know what many of you are saying “seek peace” no way, I want revenge. Can you imagine experiencing tragedy or a life-changing event, then being told to seek peace? One of the most difficult things for a person to do is to face difficult situations and attempt to find peace in the midst of it. Often it is easier to find confusion, discord, and chaos, but not peace. In these stages of life, we are told to seek peace. Peace–by definition is the absence of chaos. It is peace that allows us to remain stable in our most difficult situations. Philippians 4:7—says “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” It is in times of trouble in our lives that it is the peace of God that we ought to seek.
Finally, my brothers and my sisters in verses 8-9, we are instructed to—tune away faithless people. Sometimes you may come upon people who try to tell you something different than what God is telling you. Verse 8 says, “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you…” In other words, do not listen to people who are not sent by God giving you false information. Notice that God has sent His prophet Jeremiah concerning the ways they should live while they are in captivity and in slaved in Babylon. The reason for this was because there were false prophets among them. Likewise, we as children of God should not listen to false prophets like those who ask you why you are still attending a church with small numbers —faithless people; you know them, faithless people who will say that the congregation is too small to have an effective ministry; faithless people who are still trying to figure out why you are even having Church School. Faithless people tune them off. Everybody who gives you a word is not necessarily giving you a word from the Lord.
Before I close let me give you a breaking news update—the story did not end for God’s people in Jeremiah 29 because if you fast forward to chapter 30 you will see that God kept His word and His promise of restoration for His people. The good news is that even in our transitional periods God provides hope and the proof of this truth is found in verse 11 where God tells Jeremiah to tell the people “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.”
God has promised us a future with an expected hope:
a) but until then we are to continue to build.
b) until then we must continue to seek peace.
c) until then we must restrain from listening to faithless people (we must tune out faithless people) who will only prove to be stumbling blocks as we transition from our current place to our place of promise.
d) until then we are to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding.
e) until then we are to wait on the Lord until He restores us.
f) Just remember that our current condition is not our conclusion, it is just the place and state that we are transitioning from. It was not the end for them, and it is not the end for us. They were only between the place where they started and the place where God was taking them to. This is not the end; we are only in transition.
