WE'RE NOT WHERE WE WANT TO BE

Psalm 42

Jeremiah 29:1-14

Message

Waterloo, Iowa, is the reason I have a GPS. I usually find myself someplace other than my intended destination, staring at a cornfield. That's not where I wanted to be.

Babylon wasn't where the Israelites wanted to be, either. As we heard in Psalm 137, they lamented, “How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?” How could they be happy? They felt lost, confused, unsure of their future and disoriented in their new situation.

We hear those feelings in Psalm 42. The writer longs for the assurance of God, but like the rest of his people, he is perplexed and bewildered with why God is taking so long to get there. Historians say that there is evidence that the the Israelites took things into their own hands and staged an unsuccessful uprising sometime in the first two years they were in Babylon. They were not adjusting well to their new circumstances in a foreign land.

The truth is, that life is a journey from one foreign country to a next. Natural and man-made disasters and personal tragedies can bring about unexpected changes we're not fully prepared to deal with that may leave us feeling lost, confused, unsure, perplexed, bewildered, unclear or disoriented.

The normal process of growing up and aging as we move through the stages of life can do the save thing. The first time we get on the big yellow bus, it takes us to a new place in our lives. Then, just when we get the hang of being children, our bodies begin to change.

Do you know why I don't believe in re-incarnation? The God who so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son must love me enough not to put me through puberty and ninth grade English, again. I'm sure my ninth grade English teacher, fresh out of college and full of unrealistic expectations probably feels the same way.

Diplomas, wedding rings, the arrival or not of the first child, serious illness, retirement, the loss of independence in our latter years, all mark the entry into another foreign land – a leaving of what we knew to be normal to adjust to a new normal.

In Psalm 42, there is a refrain that's repeated twice – “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”

Hope is the product of imagination – imaging what God will do based on what we know is true and well-proven of God. Hope is choosing to focus on the vision of the future that God has for us. Hope is living into the new normal, not curled up in a ball, hiding from life and waiting for the old normal to come back.

Hope is living! God tells the Israelites that while they are waiting for God's timing when they will be restored to their homeland they are to:

“Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.  But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Live the promise of restoration and healing in the circumstances in which they find themselves. It will be not be easy, but living one day at a time, they will find that even in a foreign land, they can live fruitful, meaningful lives.

And God has not abandoned them. If they seek God with sincere and open hearts, they will find that God is there with them, even in a foreign land, and it will be all right, again.

When we find ourselves somewhere where we didn't expect to be, where we don't what to be or where we're not prepared to be, have hope. Imagine what God can do and is doing on our behalf. Stay connected to God with sincere and open hearts, open to the blessings that await us in the new normal. 

For God promises each and everyone of us, and promises Christ's church:

“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”