| Friday Apr 12 |
Psalm 22, 141, 143 | Jeremiah 29:1, 4-13 | Romans 11:13-24 | John 11:1-27 |
Psalm 143:3 The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead.
4 So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.
5 I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.
Jeremiah 29:4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 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. 7 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.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.10 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. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Life has a way of knocking you off your feet. One moment things can be going well and the next thing you know, BOOM, you are knocked off your feet. The unexpected happens and now you feel like a motherless child a long way from home. Many people as time and technology progress feel less and less connected to the world in which they live. All the bells and beeps that surround us can become disconcerting. As we get older things that once happened through us begin to happen to us. We lose our sense of belonging. When this occurs we begin to long for the good old days. This mindset only exacerbates the disconnect. Langston Hughes writes, hold fast to dreams for when dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. It is to this life experience this text is directed.
In this text GOD inspires Jeremiah to prepare the people for being in exile. The Israelite community is exiled and being frustrated by living in a foreign land away from familiar surroundings, basically trying to figure out what to do. How can we find a home away from home. GOD instructs the Israelite community to settle down. Don’t spend all their energy trying to be where they are not. There is a tragedy and not being present. GOD is an ever present help in time of trouble. Knowing this we can know that GOD cannot be confined to any space or place. We know that the earth is the LORDS and all that dwell in it. So whether they are in Jerusalem or Babylon the Israelites can still be at home. And this is the message for us today.
Our situation may take a while to change in our favor. GOD doesn’t want us to be skittish even though we are scattered. It is the plan of GOD to prosper us, not just in the not yet, but right now. Knowing that GOD has a future for us adds meaning in the present moment. The plan of GOD to prosper us allows there to be a purpose in the midst of our pain. Hope has as much power in our present as it has for our future. Just think about what happens when a person is hopeless. When we give up hope it has implications right now. Hopeless people become dead people walking. No joy, no peace, no laughter, just a gnawing experience that steals all vitality. On the other hand people with hope can go through hell because they live in heaven. They know the kingdom of heaven is within and thus they learn to bloom where they are planted. Working for the best even in this foreign place means everybody can prosper.
As we near the end of this Lenten season, we may notice a desire to want to hang on to the sense of home we feel doing our devotions. I challenge us by saying it doesn’t have to end. Just because we change liturgical season doesn’t mean we have to change spiritual disciplines. And even if they have to change some, we must hold on to the hope that we can call on the LORD and be heard, when we call with our whole heart.
PRAYER: LORD help us to bloom where we are planted. As we experience exile let us also experience your presence and blessed assurance that we are not alone. Lead us Guide us, Direct us to export inner peace amid external chaos. Awaken the dead areas of our lives killed by despair. AMEN
Point to Ponder: In what ways have you experienced exile? How are you blooming where you are planted? Share what it means for you to prosper.
40 Days of Lenten Meditations 