Living in the Waiting Room – part 2 Jeremiah 29:4-14
After my husband Gary’s cancer diagnoses, we were open to trying anything the doctors suggested. One of the things they wanted him to continue doing was to keep exercising by going on short walks in our neighborhood. So, we did.
One day as we were holding hands and walking down the street Gary asked me, “Jan have you ever noticed that when we go out for our walks that none of the other married couples, we see walking in the neighborhood are holding hands?”
“No, I said. “I don’t think I have ever noticed.”
“Well, I have,” he said. “And, I have decided what I am going to say if anyone ever ask me why we are holding hands. I am going to tell them that we are newlyweds.”
Another day, when we were driving to his cancer therapy Gary said, “Jan did you know that when, we get to heaven you and I are not going to be married?”
“Yes,” I said. “I have read that in the gospels.”
He turned and said with a straight face said, “Well, you don’t have act like you’re so excited about it.”
All I could do was laugh. Even in illness Gary had the ability to entertain me. I think these stories show what a truly special person Gary was and how great our loss was when he died. In one of the grief classes I took after Gary died someone said, “Grief is the price we pay for the privilege of loving someone”. If we had the ability to create a completely safe environment, a place where people didn’t feel judged, I am convinced that every single person could tell us a sad story. But we need to remember that suffering is not a competition where we compare and try to find the person who has suffered the most. Your sorrow is real and so is mine. Grief is exhausting, but sadly, extremely common.
In our last lesson we began looking at what happens in our lives when we have lost control and feel like we have moved to the waiting room. We also started exploring Jeremiah 29:4-14. How did we define the phrase “Waiting Room”?
I would define “the waiting room” as anytime in our lives change has been forced on us. With that review now let us return our passage. Pray and ask God to speak to you in his word and then read Jeremiah 29:4-14 again.
4 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Find wives for yourselves and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, do not decrease. 7 Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”
8 For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them, 9 for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
10 For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration— “and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.” CSB
We are strengthened when we remember God is in control. We serve the LORD of armies. We may have found ourselves moving to a place of uncertainty, but God knows what he is doing. So, this brings us to two more principles.
1) When we remember we serve the LORD of Armies, we can love the truth while still living in in in the waiting room. Jeremiah 29:8-9
We may feel we are trapped in situations that were not of our choosing, but while we reside in the unknown, we can still love the truth.
Unfortunately for Jeremiah, his prophecies were not very popular while he was still alive. He was often mistreated, beaten multiple times, imprisoned, and left for dead all because the people didn’t love God’s warning message. My father had an idiom about deception that he used to say, “Well, they just wanted their ears tickled.” Meaning they liked being flattered or being lied too, more than they wanted the truth. This was part of the reason God changed their address.
Look again at Jeremiah 29:8-9.
8 For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them, 9 for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.” This is the Lord’s declaration. CSB
Jeremiah was so despised by the people of Judah that when the Babylonians came to haul the Jews off the final time, they left him behind. These invading armies were looking for people of influence and beauty. They were interested in the Jewish nobility, the healthy, the young and strong, the wealthy, and those who had useful skills. The infirmed and elderly were left behind to eke out a meager existence in Palestine because they were not considered useful to Babylon’s purposes. Jeremiah was lumped with the undesirable people Babylon was happy to leave behind.
As the nobility were being carried off to Babylon, they were probably thrilled that they were not going to have to listen to any more of Jeremiah’s frightening sermons. This is the way self-deception works. We can want something so bad that we start rejecting the truth. The truth often hurts, but without it our lives will continue to move from one disaster to another. Jeremiah’s message reminds us of Jesus words in John 8:31b-32, “…If you are my disciples, you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.”Do we love the truth enough to let it set us free? When we find ourselves living in the waiting room it is imperative we learn to love God’s truth.
2) When we remember we serve the LORD of Armies, we can seek him while still living in the waiting room. Jeremiah 29:10-14.
Look at Jeremiah 29:10-14 again.
10 For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.” CSB
Frustrating trials often cultivate within us a more teachable and pure heart. Even though it made him unpopular Jeremiah prophesied what God told him, and because of this his writings became very popular after his death. Do you remember the prophet Daniel who was taken into Babylon as a youngster? Jewish tradition tells us that Daniel was a part of Judah’s nobility and probably between the ages of 12-14 at the time his captivity. Scholars think that after being dragged to exile he probably spent the rest of his life in Babylon. In Daniel chapter 9, when he is an old man, we find him reading Jeremiah’s prophecy from chapter 29. The very passage we have been studying.
After reading about the 70 years, Daniel figures out that the years of captivity are almost over. The veracity of this message drove Daniel to prepare the people for their return to Israel and how is he going to do that? He prays for them. In Daniel chapter 9:4b-19, he offers a substitutional prayer of repentance on Israel’s behalf. I say substitutional, because when we read this prayer, we know that Daniel has not committed the sins he is confessing, he was only a kid when he was carried into captivity. But Daniel could confess these sins because as a middle-easterner his thinking was different than our western mind-set. In the middle east those who are descendants of Abraham, the Jews and the Arabs, live in an honor/shame culture where they are discouraged from doing things that would bring shame to their community. Daniel identifies himself as being from the tribe of Judah, and as such he could confess sins for his entire tribe, even though he didn’t personally commit these sins. Daniel was raised to value community over individual freedom. Different cultures place importance on different principles. In the west we live in an innocent/guilt culture where we value individual liberty and responsibility over community. So, we would rarely feel comfortable confessing someone else’s sins.
I want you to read this prayer, but I want you to pay attention while reading this prayer by answering this question, “What stands out to you from Daniel’s prayer?”
Daniel 9:4b-19
Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands— 5 we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors, and all the people of the land.
7 Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel—those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where you have banished them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward you. 8 Lord, public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. 9 Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the Lord our God by following his instructions that he set before us through his servants the prophets.
11 All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him. 12 He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven. 13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth. 14 So the Lord kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him.
15 Now, Lord our God—who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made your name renowned as it is this day—we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. 16 Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, may your anger and wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of ridicule to all those around us.
17 Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of your servant. Make your face shine on your desolate sanctuary for the Lord’s sake. 18 Listen closely, my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts but based on your abundant compassion. 19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for your own sake, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name. CSB
What stands out to you from Daniel’s prayer?
Daniel appeals to God’s righteousness, not Israel’s righteousness. He confesses her shame and reminds the Lord that Jerusalem and Israel bear his name. For God’s sake Daniel asks God to forgive his people.
Daniel stood in the gap in prayer between the sinful exiles and a holy God, interceding on their behalf. While still living in captivity Daniel found the courage to believe the seventy years of exile were almost over. The Jews were ready to return to Jerusalem when they began to seek God with all their heart.
When we remember we serve the LORD of Armies, we can love the truth, and we can seek him while still living in the waiting room. If we want to survive moving to the unknown, we must crave and desire the truth. One of the main reasons the exiles ended up in Babylon was they didn’t want to hear what God thought of them. We must guard our hearts from deception, especially self-deception and we must learn to seek God no matter the cost. He is worth any sacrifice.
In Daniel 9:23 after Daniel’s prayer of repentance, God sent Gabrielle an angelic messenger to Daniel with these words, “23 At the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it, for you are treasured by God…” Wouldn’t we all love to hear these words, “You are treasured by God”? I know I would. God treasured Daniel because he passionately interceded for others.
We can bless our city, and we can offer substitutional repentance, even when we have not committed the sins we are confessing. God loved Israel, but he also loved the Babylonians. In these two lessons on moving to the waiting room of life, we see God wants us to pray for those who still don’t know him, and he wants us to pray for those who know him but need to repent.
Unfortunately, I think we often get these two people groups reversed. We judge the non-Christians and keep asking God to bless the Christians who show no interest in repenting. If we want to take as many people to heaven with us as we can, we need get this straight. God called the exiles to bless the unbelievers in Babylon, and he treasured Daniel for identifying with Israel’s shame and sin. This is only imaginable when we remember we serve the LORD of armies. With him in control anything is possible.