Scripture:
Jeremiah 29:10-14 NKJV
[10] For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. [11] For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. [12] Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. [13] And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. [14] I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.
Observation:
I just can’t get enough of the Bible. There is a hunger inside of me that I have not been able to satisfy. It’s been growing and growing for the last 16 years, and to be honest I hope this hunger never really gets filled. I never want to be at the point I was when the LORD revealed HIMSELF to me again. It was simply just not comfortable. Seemingly trapped, or held captive by my own sinful desire. But inside even that it became clear that there was more to this life than I had known. The thing is even those times where I was running on my own sinful desires was all part of the path HE had in store. As I was praying this morning and thinking about what the LORD had in store for us. I started seeking HIM in the words HE left for us to find him in. My heart quickly found these verses in Jeremiah. One of them I’m sure as you had the opportunity to read it, may have stuck out to you. It tends to jump off the page because we have been over it so many times, or seen it on a coffee cup or t-shirt. It’s a verse that gives us a level of hope that is hard to get past. The problem is it’s often taken out of context, which is the reason I believe we have been brought here again this morning. So let’s look at what the LORD is telling us in HIS word. Something we may not know is that Jeremiah was writing about a time that Daniel got the opportunity to experience with his 3 friends who were thrown in the fiery furnace, shortly before he was thrown in the lion’s den, and all of that was part of the plan we read about in verse 11. I love the Bible. The stories in it are inspiring. But more importantly there are instructions given in it that can help us navigate life. Now diving into what the LORD has for us I want to draw our attention to verse number 10, which says, and I quote, “For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are complete at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word towards you, and cause you to return to this place.” So just so it’s clear, this time in Babylon was not a vacation. It was a time of captivity. A time when GOD’S chosen had been overtaken, due to them chasing after what they thought was right in their own eyes, rather than seeking HIM. It was a time of pressure and discomfort, being taken out of their homeland into a strange place, and made to live how the babylonian empire did. Some were held as slaves and others they tried to reconstruct the way they thought. But even inside of that there was a plan. You see GOD’S people had stopped seeking HIM. So the pressure and captivity was designed to remind them that they had a Father who would do exactly what HE said HE would. As we had said yesterday…. GOD’S promises are yes and amen. If HE said it HE will do it. For right now im going to skip over the fluff so I can bring out my point. Let’s take a look at verse 12, because it contains the key to the gate of captivity. “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” What is being said is, the desperation that is found inside the captivity will bring them to a point that they will hit their knees and seek HIM. That desperation will turn HIS ear to them. As we continue to press on we see that it’s about our heart position. Looking at verse 13 brings that into the picture, GOD will be found when they turn not only their prayers to HIM, but take the time to seek HIM with “ALL” their heart. But let me ask you a question…. What is it that brings them to a point where they decide to do that… where they turn their attention to GOD in desperation with their whole heart? What is it that gives them that desire? Is it GOD’S blessings, or is it the captivity? The last verse in our reading this morning is a promise, but it starts with the hearts of those who are in captivity making a decision to seek HIM with “ALL” their heart. In order to see verse 11 something had to happen. Desperation, discomfort, and pressure. Yes HE has a plan to bring HIS people out of captivity. It’s a good plan for their future, but there is a requirement. That plan will only be realized when they seek HIM…. Only then will HE bring them out of captivity and return them to their homeland, and out of the captivity.
Application:
I remember it all too well. It wasn’t 70 years but at one point in life I was held captive by my sin. I didn’t even know it was me that brought it all on. I thought it was everyone else. If they would just leave me alone so I could do what I wanted, life would be so much better. But every time I found a jail cell I would look up, or ask for a bible. I didn’t realize that I could seek HIM in freedom. It was only when my life was not what I thought I wanted. You see this amazing thing happen when we are sat down long enough to get desperate. We start searching for answers. How do I change this? How am I going to get out of this? The desperation of our situation draws our thoughts to the Father. The pressures of life remind us that HE is there. I remember a time about 25 years ago. I was sitting in a cell. I had been there for about 6 months or so, of course I had started reading the bible, but at that point HE had not been my LORD or my SAVIOR. In fact I wasn’t even sure I believed in HIM. But something inside me said read the Bible…. So I did. As I sat out that time completely alone. No one was taking my calls, coming to see me, or putting money on my books. I felt like I was completely alone. In my desperation I got on my knees. All I wanted was to know that I was not alone. The prayer was simple, “GOD, if you’re real, show me that I am not alone.” I had not gotten any letters the whole time I was there, but as soon as I got off my knees two letters came under my door. HE had answered my prayer immediately, but just like any good sinner I excused that away, thinking those letters were already on the way, and they were, that’s the truth, I just didn’t know the GOD I was praying to, HE stands outside of time. Years before I got on my knees and asked HIM to reveal himself he had set them in motion to slide under my door with HIS perfect timing. As soon as I got desperate enough to ask HIM to show me if HE was real, HE did so. Most of us do not seek GOD in the good times we do not come to discover who HE is when things are going well. The Bible says HE is close to the broken hearted. But does that mean we have to remain broken-hearted? Personally I don’t think so. Because once HE truly reveals HIMSELF to you, HE makes you all new. All we have to do is seek HIM. But here is what happens. Things start to get good in our lives and we start to rely on ourselves and forget to seek HIM. If we could only learn to seek HIM in our good times we might never face captivity again. Listen i don’t know where you are right now, but what i do know is this, no matter where you are if you seek HIM with all your heart, HE will reveal HIMSELF to you, you don’t have to face captivity again, but if that’s the only time you will seek HIM, guess what….. that’s where HE will bring you. If you are in captivity I hope you’re desperate enough to look up, because when you do HE will show you who HE is.
Prayer:
Father, all I can do is thank you. So many times you loved me enough to put me in spots where all I could do is look up. I don’t ever want to go back to the captivity of drug addiction and jail cells. Or any other kind of captivity as well. So all I can as is that you would help me maintain a regular habit of seeking you daily. I just want to be in your presence. Honestly I never want to leave it. Thank you for delivering us out of our own desires into the desires that you have for us. Father if there is someone reading this that is struggling I pray that you would comfort them. Show them exactly who you are and wrap your loving arms around them. Draw them to you. Send people to them to speak life into their situation, so that they will seek you. We know that’s what you want. Fill our hearts and minds with your Holy Spirit. Overwhelm us with your presence in this day. Its in the mighty name of jesus we pray amen