God Has a Plan for this Election, Jeremiah 29:11 -- Elisha's Ax Head

Often on the way home from work on Sunday night I listen to a talk show on a Christian radio network. People call and ask for prayer or counsel. On one  recent broadcast A 15 year old woman called. An hour before her call her parents had left on a trip out of town for her 40-something father's (who had late stage pancreatic cancer) chemotherapy treatment. It would be his last treatment. Humanly he had no hope of survival more than a month, and she lamented all the things her family had all ready lost through her father's sickness, and would lose when he was gone. She said, "I'm not going to have my father to walk me down the aisle at my wedding!...." She expressed guilt for her feeling of loss and sorrow. She felt she was being selfish, after all her mother was losing her husband, and her faithful life companion, though going to heaven, was suffering and would soon be separated from his family. She did not want to bring any more pain to her parents or siblings by letting them know about her sorrow, and she had repeatedly, dismissed her Youth Pastor's attempt to comfort, console and counsel her, because she was afraid "it" [her pain] might get back to her parents". 

Enter the radio pastor with the answers:  he told her that God had brought to mind the perfect verse for her to embrace, assuring her Jesus would make  "everything all right:"

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV)

He told her that God planned her father's sickness and death (and he quickly threw in that God could still work a healing miracle).  He was using it for her [welfare] that although she might be hopeless and depressed now, God promised her and her family a future filled with welfare and hope. Her father had the welfare found safe in Jesus arms for all eternity. She could celebrate that. He played the perfect contemporary Christian song to lift her spirit out of the doldrums and make her happy... I turned off the radio, really not wanting to hear the song. I had nothing against the artist or the song. It just didn't seem to fit.

When I share with grieving at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, and in view of my own personal losses. I find little consolation in a Bible verse that is supposed to tell me, "God planned this, and everything will be all right."

I find little consolation in a Bible verse that is supposed to tell me, "God planned this, and everything will be all right." 

When I lost my first wife I was 34, she 28. How has God made that all right? Things are not all right in a fallen world, our world is unfair, and often unjust.  Nothing makes the loss of a spouse, parent, child or sibling all right. The scripture says, "death is our enemy (1 Cor15:26)." When the enemy kills it is a defeat. I understand that Christ has paid the penalty and won the victory, but we still grieve, though not as the world grieves (1Thess. 4:13).  When someone says to me, "Well God is sovereign .This [the lose of my first wife] is part of his wonderful plan for you." Their attempt at comfort backs fire, making God seem cruel and capricious. In my head I knew God was good but when in mourning it just feels otherwise. Trusting Christ meant that I trusted in His fairness when my nothing seemed fair, his goodness when, circumstances gave me every reason to doubt it.

If this radio host happens to come across this blog, he may post a comment about me being overly pedantic. (He may be right, I certainly am at times.) He might remind me that  God has a plan and a purpose in this family's suffering. If they follow him even this  will work out for the young lady and her family's good (Ps 84:11; Ro 8:28). He would be right again. Calling into a Christian radio station for assurance from God tells me that the young lady believed God had a purpose these events. If she thought otherwise, she would have gone to a school counselor, posted her feelings on Facebook (restricted to her friends of course) or texted a friend. This young lady undoubtedly believed God. She just needed someone to join her in her sorrow and walk with her. God seemed so far away. This passage offered her little or no comfort in the moment. It could actually prove to discourage her and raise more doubt than assurance.

So exactly whose welfare, hope and future is God planning when He speaks in Jeremiah 29:11? Look at the verse in its proximate context:

For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29:10-14 ESV)

One of the interpretive problems we have in modern English is that there is no second person plural noun. "You" can refer to one person or to many. To whom does the noun "you" refer: Is it a group of people or is it a person? The "who, what, when, where, why and how" of this promise is stated in the first 3 verses of the chapter:

These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. (Jeremiah 29:1-3 ESV)

This is a promise of God's providence and deliverance of a nation in exile. Even when God judges a people he still takes care of the faithful.

Following the reign of Solomon Israel divided into two kingdoms (1Kings 12:16-24; 2 Chronicles 10). Israel consisting of the northern 10 tribes and Judah consisting of the southern 2 tribes. Israel continued to live in decadence and rebellion to God. None of their kings were described as "good." In 722 BC. the Assyrians conquered Israel, dispersing the Jews throughout their kingdom. (2 Kings 17). Judah had periods of revival. Eight of their kings are said to be "good." God was patient with them allowing them to learn from the consequences of Israel's rebellion. Despite several revivals and miraculous victory's the Jews followed Baal, committed child sacrifices, and sexual perversion of all sorts. Finally in 586 B.C Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar (2Kings 24 &25: 2 Chronicles 36:17-21), and most of the inhabitants of Judah were expatriated to Babylon. A few including Jeremiah fled to Egypt, Jeremiah 29 is  a letter the prophet wrote to the expatriated Jews in Babylon.

The expatriate Jews lived among a people who despised their values or beliefs. Where were the blessings of God that had been so evident in the history of this nation for so many years? There nation had been in steady decline. Now they had lost everything! They were disappointed frustrated and angry. God's people are in a similar situation today. Since World War 2 our nation has been on a spiritual and moral decline. Our culture has legalized abortion and gay marriage and now they are attempting to force us to live in a society where everything we value is being diminished or destroyed. Although we have not been conquered militarily, we wonder whether we are heading for economic and political catastrophe.

I recently had a conversation with a ministerial colleague of mine about the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. We both noted that since that decision we have seen a rising tide of anger and frustration among Christian people. The anger and frustration goes far beyond God's people, This election year both political parties have a candidate seeking their nomination who is appealing to the anger and frustration of people. Our economy is deflating. We are seeing civil unrest that compares to the 1960's. Terrorist attacks and violence seem commonplace. God's people are under attack from within and without. Do you wonder where God is in all this? Are you looking for someone to turn things around? In this election year some are seeking a candidate who will reverse the decline. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us that God has a plan for this election. Deliverance and revival will not come on Air Force One.

In this election year we are seeking a candidate who will reverse the decline. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us that God has a plan for this election.

Jeremiah called upon the nation to look to God for deliverance not the chariot or, in our case the ballot. He says to his people:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

The welfare, future and hope of the nation of Israel was in God's hand. After 70 years of exile God will work miraculously on the heart of Medo-Persian King, Cyrus, to repatriate them.  He will return them to their homeland. The promise of repatriation is made to the nation Israel. God makes no such promise to the United States, if this nations falls there in no promise that it will arise. No great leader like Cyrus the Persian or any of the current candidates are going to restore this nation to some prior glory. There is a lesson for us in our time in this passage.

[C]all upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD,..

The problem in Israel was not their leaders; the problem was the inclination of the heart of the people. Each person in Israel bore some responsibility for the nation's fall. The evil Kings would not have been able to lead the people into such depravity were their hearts not desperately wicked. We face similar times. We have not been conquered but we have as a people moved farther and farther away from God's blessing and could easily face his judgment. Many Christians are looking for a candidate to "turn the country around." While I believe it is part of our stewardship to vote and our responsibility to speak righteousness to our nation. No human leader will reverse the course of this nation. Our welfare, our future is apolitical.

God will always preserve the welfare of his people. Though our nation may fall and our economy may collapse God will preserve his people. This verse is no guarantee of career success or economic prosperity. This verse make no promise to provide for the economic welfare of a dying man's family. It in no way assures me that if I lose my job God has a better one for me. It is not a call to go to the ballot box and elect the right person. It is not a command to boycott stores or protest in the street, although their are times when Christian's need to be the voice of righteousness for their culture. Jeremiah says national welfare and protection comes from God. When his people come to him: pray; when they seek him with all their heart, He promises to hear, to lead to give a future and a hope. Jesus gives similar advice in his time.

In Luke 11 Jesus speaks about catastrophic events of his time. He reminds that those who suffer are no less responsible than those who do not or of the perpetrators. They are all sinners worthy of judgment.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5 ESV)

Too many of us are angry at politicians, educators, Walstreet, homosexuals or anyone else we consider responsible for our predicament. Yet God's judgment begins with the house of God. We are complicit in our societies demise. The most dangerous enemy this nation faces is not Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. It is you and me and a complacent church. We have all in some ways participated in the decadence around us and have enjoyed it. No politician will be able to reverse the inevitable consequences of our society's sin. In stead of endorsing candidates our leaders need to call us to repentance, calling Christians to sacred assemblies, asking God for mercy. If we truly repent God can bring revival and blessing to our nation. Our destiny as a nation is not determined by who lives and works on the mall in Washington. It is determined by the heart of God's people. God does have a plan for our welfare, our future and our hope, but repentance, true national repentance proceeds revival. The book of Jeremiah teaches us what happens to a stubborn unrepentant people. God forbid it happen to the USA.