Readings for today: Jeremiah 40-44, Psalms 24
As a pastor, one of the things I get to do is help churches who find themselves in crisis. Leadership failings. Trust issues. Organizational chaos. There are lots of reasons churches struggle and when it gets to a certain point, they cry out for help. That’s often when I am called to go in. I begin working with the pastors. Working with the elders. Working with the leaders. And the biggest challenge I face in these situations is to help people who are often hurting, angry, fearful, and afraid, learn to walk by faith.
Jeremiah faced the same challenge. The national crisis of God’s people deepens with the murder of the Babylonian governor. The people of God come to Jeremiah and ask him to pray on their behalf. What should they do? How should they respond? They are naturally afraid of the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar. Will he return and utterly destroy them? Will he seek retribution for the murder of his official? What’s going to happen? Jeremiah seeks the Lord on their behalf and the Lord graciously answers. “If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will rebuild and not demolish you, and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you. Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear; don’t be afraid of him’ — this is the Lord’s declaration — ‘because I am with you to save you and rescue you from him. I will grant you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and allow you to return to your own soil.’” (Jeremiah 42:10-12 CSB) What an amazing promise! Even now, after all their sin and rebellion, God is willing to forgive and show mercy and establish them in the Promised Land. Even now, God is willing to bless them and help them and come to their aid. Yes, it will require a step of faith. Yes, it will require them to be humble. Yes, they will have to submit to Nebuchadnezzar once again. But if they will do these things, God will be with them.
Sadly, their fear gets the best of them. “Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the other arrogant men responded to Jeremiah, “You are speaking a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to stay there for a while!’ Rather, Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans to put us to death or to deport us to Babylon!” (Jeremiah 43:2-3 CSB) So they flee to Egypt. Back to the place where they were once enslaved. They begin to worship Egyptian gods. They leave the land of promise for a foreign land to serve foreign masters with the hope they will protect them and keep them safe.
Walking by faith is not easy. It often seems illogical to our human minds. Azariah and Johanan were doing what made sense. It makes sense to run for cover when you are afraid. It makes sense to run to Egypt, the world’s only other superpower, to escape the wrath of the Babylonians. It makes sense to flee when you’ve just been conquered. It is natural to be afraid in such situations. But it is precisely in these moments, when things are at their darkest and most bleak, that we turn to God.
Many churches I’ve worked with over the years have sadly not been able to make this turn. They keep trying to handle things on their own. They keep turning to their own wisdom. They keep trying to operate according to their own strength. They falsely believe if they can just get another pastor…if they can just get rid of a certain leader…if they can just hit on the right program…attract the right kind of people then success will come. They turn to business principles. They go to conferences. They talk vision and values and policies and procedures. They try so hard and all the while God is in heaven reaching out to them. Calling them to slow down. Simplify. Sit with Him in prayer. Rebuild trust by spending time in the Word and just sharing life together in Him.
Thankfully, I’ve seen some wonderful successes along the way as well. Churches who finally come to the end of themselves and are ready to submit to God. Ready to walk by faith not by sight. Ready to look past attendance and budget and building issues and let God restore them. They are ready to put aside all the talk about vision and values and leadership and let the Spirit show them the way. They are ready to stop looking to organizational solutions for spiritual problems and instead rely on God. It’s a beautiful thing to watch as God builds them back up. Replants the fields and brings in a harvest. Friends, if we trust God, He will come through!
Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 45-48, Psalms 25