Not only can an individual Christian
lose their way and ruin their God-given inheritance, but churches and even
whole nations can, and do, fall. On several occasions God punished Israel
because of their sin and disobedience. Even in their deepest despair, under the
correction of God, there was hope for Israel. And there is hope for you if you
have lost your way. Jeremiah was despised by the people because he spoke
messages that the people didn’t want to hear. When the Babylonians came and
took God’s people away into slavery, however, his message must have started to
ring true to the stubborn hearted nation.
Even in their darkest hour, God
offered a glimmer of hope to His crushed people. The following verse is often
quoted in part, but we need to understand the context it was used in. Jeremiah
prophesied, “This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for
Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back
to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans
to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you
will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.’”
(Jeremiah 29:10-12)
After being delivered from Egypt,
the children of Israel were required to follow the pillar of cloud and the
pillar of fire through the wilderness. When it moved, they were to move, and
when it stopped, they were to stop. They were not to fall behind, and they were
not to go ahead. While they remained with God’s presence, they received His
protection, direction and provision. If a person foolishly wandered off into
the desert by himself and got separated from God’s people, he would not last
long. The desert was full of poisonous snakes and scorpions and totally devoid
of water and food. The manna and quail that fell from heaven only fell on the
camp where God’s people dwelled; it did not fall everywhere in the desert. The
water that gushed from the rock at Kadesh satisfied the people who were camped
there. If someone was straggling far behind in the desert, it would not be of
any use to them.
Perhaps you have lost track of God’s
plan for your life. Perhaps you have wandered off track and have spent years
trying to relocate the pillar of fire and cloud. Your spiritual provision has
dried up and your life has been constantly under attack from dangerous and destructive
forces. If this is your experience, then I have good news! There is a way back.
The way back starts by thoroughly
repenting and denouncing the sin and disobedience that caused you to wander
away in the first place. Stop trying to manage your own life, and realize you
will continue to fail until you truly submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Stop doing your will and start obeying God’s will. Acknowledge your total
dependence on Him and He will show you the right pathway in the desert, one
that will lead you back to the camp of God’s children. Jesus will embrace you
again, for He has promised, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and
whoever comes to me I will never drive away,” (John 6:37)
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