Jeremiah 29:10-14
March 19, 2025
When I was in middle school my dad and I went to a Green Bay Packers football game on a Sunday afternoon. I was very excited to wear my green Packers sweatshirt to the game, along with many others who were wearing their Packers green and gold colors and sweatshirts. The Packers lost that day to their rival Minnesota Vikings. After the game my dad and I went to a local restaurant for some dinner, along with many other Packers fans. As we were enjoying dinner, suddenly the restaurant got rather quiet. A family wearing the Vikings’ colors of purple and white walked in, and many people just sort of stared at this family. I’m sure the family tried to ignore the stares, as they walked to their table, maybe even regretting their choice of restaurants.
I’m sure we have all had the experience of being in places when we wished we could have been somewhere else. For example, maybe you moved to a new state when you were in high school, leaving your friends, and you wondered where you were going to sit at lunch time in the cafeteria not knowing anyone on that first day in your new school. Maybe you went to an outdoor event in shorts and a short sleeve shirt, thinking it was going to be nice and warm, but instead it started raining and you were found yourself soaked and freezing in the rain. Maybe you have been lost while driving at night in the wrong part of town and you prayed, “Lord, please help me to find the right road so I can get home.”
In our Scripture reading tonight, Jeremiah wrote to a group of people who did not want to be where they were and wanted to go back home. It was 600BC and a small group of Jews were now living in Babylon, about 400 miles from their home. They were not living there by choice. The people had turned away from God and after many repeated warnings from prophets to turn back to God and worship Him only, God allowed the Babylonians to take these people away from their homes and their jobs to live in Babylon – a culture and setting that was completely
new and foreign to them – with the hopes that they would repent of their sins and return to Him. This was not what any of those Jews living in Babylon had planned or wanted. I’m sure you can imagine how often these people must have wondered, “What’s going to happen to us? Will God remain angry with us? Does the Lord even have a plan for us any longer?”
Have you ever felt like those Jews living in Babylon? I remember five years ago this month how different the world looked when the pandemic hit. Peoples’ plans and dreams were wiped out. We were confused and frustrated, suddenly separated from loved ones, family members, and each other. The church was empty, Wednesday night worship services were cancelled, we were stuck at home (which is not where we wanted to be), and we wondered what was God’s plan in all this, what was He trying to teach us, and how long was this going to last?
In the opening verse of our text, God told the people living in exile that they might as well get comfortable in their new surroundings, because they were going to be there for the next 70 years. He also went on to tell them in verse 11 that what they were going through was part of His plan for them, a plan not to hurt or harm them, but a plan with a purpose. What was that purpose? Three things: the Lord said He planned to prosper them, to give them hope, and a future. During this time, God also tells them in verse 12 to “call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” Our God is a great listener and just imagine the prayers He heard during those 70 years. I’m sure people asked many questions, such as “Why, Lord? Do you still love us? What are we supposed to learn?” I’m sure some questions were filled with anger, such as, “Why am I separated from my friends? Do you realize my plans for my life have been ruined? Will I even live to see my homeland again?”
The prophet Isaiah even prophesied that our Savior would be a good listener to people like us who turn away from Him and even to those who hated Him saying in Isaiah 53, “We all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth…”(Isaiah 53:6-7). I’m sure we all asked God many of those same questions during the pandemic, such as, “Why, Lord? What are we supposed to learn? Why am I separated from my family and friends? Do you realize how many plans have been ruined?”
But just as God had plans to prosper His people, which included bringing them back to their homeland, so God has plans for us – namely plans for us to spend eternity with Him in His heavenly kingdom, where there is no sickness, sadness, or fear, only perfection, peace, and joy. But God’s plan did not rely on us, instead it relied solely on Him sending His Son, Jesus, to come into this world to live the perfect life that life with God requires. God’s plan for us also included Jesus going to the cross to suffer and die for the punishment that our sins deserved, so that we could live forever. God’s plan for us included Jesus rising from the dead to give us hope that we stand at peace with God through the forgiveness of our sins, and a future that assures us that heaven is our real home.
I believe God had a purpose for allowing us to go through that pandemic, a plan that was meant to prosper us, to teach us, and to lead us back to God so that we might gain an even greater appreciation of the many blessings that we take for granted. I’m glad the pandemic did not last 70 years, as it certainly gave me a greater appreciation of just being able to gather with all of you in this place each week around our Savior’s gospel message of love and forgiveness. And tonight I am reminded that God listened to our prayers as He brought us through that pandemic to give us hope.
Five years ago our plans definitely changed, but God’s plan did not. His plans are still to prosper us, to give us hope, and a future. May the Lord bless us as His plans are carried out in our lives, so that we may be more prosperous, appreciative, stronger and more focused in our faith in Jesus our Savior, whose plans are always good and who always listens.
