After finishing Mike’s story through this blog, it seemed to wear me out a bit. There have been mornings when I felt I should share a thought that came during my morning time with study and prayer, but honestly, I feel a bit exposed and vulnerable when I write.
But – here I am! I started 2020 reading and studying Psalms. I’ve taken my time through it with no particular time table and have learned much. I am at the last 5 Psalms now – Psalms of praise. I’ve bookmarked many Psalms and use them to enhance my prayer time. It’s been a meaningful journey.
Today, though, I want to share from the Bible app devotion I read with ladies from our small group. We have been discussing “pits” in life and finding purpose in them.
Jeremiah 29:12 “In those days, when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” What a beautiful verse and promise! When I pray, God will listen.
But wait a minute – what “days”? Backing up, we read:
⁴This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: ⁵“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. ⁶Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! ⁷And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” ⁸This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, ⁹because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the Lord . ¹⁰This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. ¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord . “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²In those days when you pray, I will listen. ¹³If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. ¹⁴I will be found by you,” says the Lord . “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
Jeremiah 29:4-14 NLT
The “days” referred to are the time when Jerusalem was to be captured by Babylon. The Jewish people were in going into exile. They were going to lose their freedom. Jeremiah was telling them that this would happen, but that God’s plans were for them to prosper and have hope.(vs 11) Jeremiah goes on to God’s promise to listen and to be found. (vs 12)
The hope in these verses is to remember when we are in our pit, God is listening. God is working His plans for His glory. Jeremiah also tells the God’s people to live in the pit…move forward with life – build houses, plant gardens, raise babies, have grandchildren…for us today, I think He is saying when God puts us in a place we aren’t comfortable, we should find contentment there while He sorts things out. We need to take care of our practical matters and not wallow in our pit. God is listening, and He has plans. So we then, should live for Him, trust in Him, keep looking for Him.
In applying this today, it seems to speak of our collective pit we find ourselves in with coronavirus. In many ways we are captives – we have lost some freedoms – we are bound by mandatory changes in our behaviors, customs and habits. It seems clear, however, that God doesn’t intend for us to stop living. We need to keep on building houses and planting gardens, get ready to stay a while in this “new normal” knowing that God has a plan and a purpose. Accept these unwelcome changes and keep living and trusting Him. There is a lot of anxiety, anger and impatience over the changes to our lives right now. But God has a plan. He sees the future. He knows what He is doing! We need to trust His plan.
And so, as I end this post today, I circle back to Psalms and leave you with this beautiful praise and reminder that God is forever. Man will let us down. God will never!
Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever. He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the Lord!
Psalms 146:1-10 NLT
Be Still In Motion 