June 14 – Life in exile - Jeremiah 33:1-11

The grass is growing again. This spring, ditches and lawns and fields were burned. The grass was scorched away. The green and brown grass, the long, old grass was set on fire, and in it’s place came that dark, black earth. There was no more grass. There were no more weeds. Just that charred, burnt, black ground.

And then, and it happens so fast, doesn’t it? Then, the grass begins to grow. The green starts poking through. At first, it’s just a few blades here and there. But soon, there are patches of green. And then the patches grow together to make bigger areas. And the grass begins to fill in. From thin and bare, the field and lawn begin to grow thick and rich and deep green. In fact, that green against that black is so eye-catching, the contrast is so striking that the black and burnt makes the sparkling green that much more beautiful. Because of the scorching, in spite of the burning, the growth is deep and rich and beautiful.

You’ve been burned. We all have. Each of us has scars and bruises and cuts and wounds. Some of our wounds were caused by the words of another person. Some of the scars came from actions of people that were supposed to be friends. A friend betrayed a secret, a family member took advantage of us. Someone we trusted broke that trust. And now, we don’t really want to trust anyone, not after that.

Some of the bruises and cuts were actually self-inflicted. We did them to ourselves. We made choices, unhealthy choices, sinful choices that came back and bit us. We took a job out of greed or out of pride, rather than God’s will, and now the job is eating up our time and energy and family. We chose to share some information about a friend, and that friend found out, and we lost that friend. We decided to not listen when God told us to honor our marriage, to feed it with attention, to spend time with our husband or wife, to listen, to submit. And now moments together are filled with tension and resentment, rather than blessing and joy.

The scars hurt. The wounds go deep. We have sinned and we have suffered from sin. This is life in exile. This is life in a world that we have broke. We’ve been recognizing this life in exile for the past few weeks. We’ve recognized that this world is not our home, that we belong to a different country. We’ve been reminded that even though we live in a foreign world, we still have an effect on those around us. In fact, it’s through us, and particularly through our suffering, that God draws others to Himself. And last week, we got a glimpse, just a peek, of our real home, which gave us courage and hope to keep going in this broken world.

And finally, today, we hear a promise. God makes a guarantee. He promises that from the ashes will grow life. From the scars will come healing. From the wounds and bruises will come whole, healthy people. From exile in pain, we will come home to wholeness. For us, still living with the consequences of our sin and the sin of others, God’s word comes to us. Verse 1:

While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name:

First, we need a reminder. This is not the world that was supposed to be. How families interact is not the way they were created to interact. Business and jobs and careers do not function they way they were created to function. Our appetites, our desires are not directed toward the things we were created to crave. We want more than we were created to want. Instead of moderation, like we were created, we gorge, we stuff ourselves with more stuff and more food and more everything than we were ever created to hold.

And the Creator steps in in verse 1. This is what the Lord says. The Lord, He who made the earth. The Lord, He who formed it and established it. After so many years of people trying it there way, after so many wounds and scars, the Creator steps in once again to set things straight. And to wounded and hurting and scarred human beings, He says, verse 3:

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

This verse has been referred to as God’s telephone number. Jeremiah 33:3. Call to Me, He says. Ask Me. Don’t be afraid of Me. Don’t avoid Me. Certainly don’t go asking others to explain this all to you. Call to Me. Call to Me, and I will answer you. Ask Me, and I’ll tell you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened. Ask, and I will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

And there’s a lot we don’t know. We don’t know how things are going to turn out. We don’t know how our children are going to grow up, what kind of world they will be living in. We don’t know what we will face next month, or next week, or even tomorrow. We don’t know how we’re going to make it through next month or next week, or even tomorrow. We don’t know how to restore a relationship that has broken. We don’t know how to stay pure and holy in a work environment that pressures us to bend the rules, even break the rules. We don’t know how to be the holy people of God living in a sin-filled world. We don’t know how we’re going to make it home.

And God calls us, He moves us to call to Him and ask Him. And He assures us and convinces us that He will answer and tell us great and unsearchable things we do not know. For example, verse 4:

For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword in the fight with the Babylonians.

We don’t have to look too far around us to see the damage and destruction of sin. Houses and cities may be standing, but dreams are crashing around us. Royal palaces may not have been torn down, but IRA’s may be in tatters. Families may be tearing apart. Our marriage may be crumbling. Our job may be slipping away, or gone completely. Life is in ruins.

And again, some of this is the consequences of the sin of others, and some of this is our own fault. In some of the destruction, we are victims, and some of it we do to ourselves. When we ignored God’s commands, when we didn’t let Him work His way in us, there are consequences to pay. Verse 5:

I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.

When we don’t understand what’s happening around us, when we call to the Lord to find the answers, the first thing He has to explain to us is our own role in this mess. He has to confront us with our sin. He has to bring us to a place where we confess our sin, and the only way we can confess our sin is if we are painfully aware of our sin.

But when He answers us and tells us great and unsearchable things we do not know, it’s not just our sin and failure and need for repentance that He explains. When He exposes our sin, He also promises to heal. Verse 6:

Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.

Out of the destruction and rubble of our lives comes rebirth and renewal. Out of the burnt, scorched parts of our lives, comes healing and wholeness. Out of sickness comes health. Out of sin comes holiness. Out of a grave of death, comes resurrection. If the Creator of the perfect world, the One who formed it and established it, if He could do it once, He can do it again. Call to Me, He says, and I’ll tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know, like how I am going to take each and every broken part of your lives and families and bodies and world and church, and bring strength and restoration. Verse 7:

I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before.

And when we hear that He is going to do this, one of the first questions that comes to mind is when. When is He going to restore? When is my marriage going to get better? When will my job settle down? When will my family be able to reconcile and forgive? When will I be able to sleep in peace? When will I lose this tension headache? When will I be able to cry? When will I stop crying? When will I laugh again? When will I hope?

The answer to when is, “Already now, and not quite yet.” And this answer is both encouraging and frustrating. It’s encouraging, because there’s new life coming. You know all that grime and gunk, the nastiness that has smudged and stained us, the words and actions spoken by others, the choices we have made for ourselves? Well, verse 8:

I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.

That has happened. That’s done. We’re already clean. We’ve already been forgiven. We were made clean when Jesus yelled out on the cross, “It is finished.” And the effects of His death are appearing in our jobs and families and lives, as surely as His resurrection happened three days after His death. His death is killing the nasty rotten parts. His burial is laying to rest our bad habits. His death is putting to death the memories and regrets.

And His resurrection is bringing to life hope. His resurrected life is bringing our family back to life. Past hurts are being forgiven, even if we can’t completely forget them. His new life is breathing new life into our marriages. New words are being spoken between husbands and wives, words that build and encourage and forgive. His new life is bringing life into communities, where people are helping each other, rather than cutting each other down. His resurrected life is bringing life to the poor, where those who have are helping those who have not. Sleepless nights are turning into nights of peace. Dark days or turning into days of hope. Sinful thoughts are being changed into pure, noble, beautiful thoughts. Lazy Christians are turning into zealous believers. New life is rising out of the grave. When this rich, deep new life comes bursting out of the scorched ground, that’s when we praise, and that’s when we tell others. Verse 9:

Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’

This is already happening. Many of us have seen it. Some of us talked about what we’ve seen last Sunday evening, when we shared the effects of Jesus’ resurrection. His new life is already here. But not completely, not yet. And sometimes, because we notice what hasn’t been restored yet, then we think that nothing has been restored. When we see the broken, we think nothing has been fixed. Verse 10:

You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without men or animals.”

Nothing’s happening, we think. It’s getting worse, we say. Yet, says the Lord:

Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither men nor animals, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD

And the voices will grow louder, as the healing goes deeper. The praise will go higher as God raises our lives up from the grave. Our song will go out as we return home from exile.

Just watch. Look what God is doing in your life. If Jesus is your Savior, then your life is being saved. If Jesus is your Lord, then your life is coming under His good and wise and generous direction. You have wounds, but He will heal. You have scars, but He will soothe. Each of us mourns and grieves the broken and bruised parts of our lives. But when we see God’s restoration, when we see Him bringing us out of exile, when we see Him bringing us closer and closer to home, then, then, then we will sing, verse 11:

“Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever.”