Building in Babylon

There’s a story in the book of Jeremiah that we talk little about.  Yet, in it you will find one of the most well known verses in the Bible.  

Chapter 29 begins with the prophet writing a letter to the people of Jerusalem who had been captured and taken to Babylon.  I can only imagine what being exiled to a foreign land must feel like.  The changes in culture and language.  The loss of home and family and freedom.  

How scared they must have been.

I wonder at the excitement they must have felt when news of the letters arrival spread throughout their community.  I can actually feel the hope that must have coursed through their veins with the expectation of deliverance that was most certainly spelled out in the pages they now held.

Surely, this captivity was about to end!  Soon they would be set free from this bondage and back to the very thing they longed for… home!  

To life as it was... before.

I can imagine the scenarios that played through their minds as they began to open the letter.  Was there a secret plan in place?  Had Jeremiah come up with a way to help them escape?  Was he even now just outside those city gates preparing to set them free?

And how their hearts must have broken when they saw those first words, “This is what the Lord says.. ‘Build homes, and plan to stay.’”

Plan to stay?

No!! 

Just reading these words thousands of years later brings tears to my eyes.

Build homes? 

Here? 

In Babylon?

The letter goes on to encourage the exiled people to not only build homes but to plant gardens… get married… have children… and then have them marry!  

Wait.. what?

“We’re gonna be here that long?!?”

As Christians today, we focus so often on being set free from bondage.  And, yes, there are many bondages we should seek to be free from.

But we cannot deny that there are situations in our lives that we cannot change.  We cannot avoid. And we cannot escape.

Which begs the questions - what does your Babylon look like?

The death of a dream?  A marriage?  A loved one?

Loss of health? Home? Finances?  

Or can it be summed up by simply saying “COVID-19”?

Babylon is that place we land unwillingly and with no desire to stay.  And to open our minds to the idea of putting down roots and learning to live… no… even thrive in Babylon is offensive to our senses.

I shared this concept with a group of teens recently.  Many of them are living in the Babylon of broken homes.  It is not of their choosing - yet they have no other option.  Their current condition is based on the choices of others.  

And they must reap the consequences.

I challenged them to look even further into Jeremiah 29.  In verse 7, the people are told to “work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon.  Pray for it.  For its welfare will determine your welfare.”

What??

Pray for the peace and prosperity of my Babylon?

No!

I don’t want to live here!  

I. want. to. go. home.

Back to before.

Back to normal.

We can wail and scream and cry.  Search for a means of escape… ignore the obvious… and attack those around us.

But when you’re in Babylon… you’re in Babylon.

At the moment when their hearts couldn’t have sank deeper into their chests, hope appeared on the pages of that letter.

Yes, they were stuck in Babylon.  Yes, they were asked to accept their reality and learn to live with it.  

A hard ask. 

But then the Lord gave those beautiful words we love to claim without acknowledging those earlier sentences… He said, “I know the plans I have for you.  They are plans for good and not for disaster.  Plans to give you a hope and a future.”

He goes on to invite His people to search for Him wholeheartedly with the promise to end their captivity and restore their fortunes - but it wouldn’t happen for seventy years.  

Life had changed.  And it would never look the same for them again.

Sound familiar?

I asked earlier what your Babylon looks like.

How long have you been there?

How hard has it been?

Does the thought of staying offend your senses?

I get it.  I do.

And while your Babylon might look different than mine, I invite you to link arms and join me in praying for the peace and prosperity of our individual Babylons even as we shake the dust off our weary hearts and begin searching for ways to build a life inside our situations.

Take comfort in knowing that God knew where to find the exiled people - after all, the letter reached them even though they were far from home.  He knows where to find you as well.

When we stop searching for a way to escape Babylon, it is then we can pick up a hammer and begin building a new life inside the wrong side of the walls we so despise.

It may not be where you’d choose to be… but if that’s where you are, I hope you will find courage to rise up, build, plant roots and thrive - even in Babylon.

It Is Well

It's the stuff from which fears are realized, ‘whys’ are birthed and the deepest of soul pain claws at your throat.

A mother shouldn't have to...  She just shouldn't have to…

She shouldn't have to walk out hospital doors with empty arms and a breaking heart.

Shouldn't have to rouse from a dream where he is still alive and happy and giggling... only to enter the hollow reality that his bed lies untouched.

She shouldn’t have to.

She shouldn’t have to choose what he’ll wear to his funeral.

Shouldn’t have to stand by his coffin holding a handful of Kleenex, unfulfilled plans and not enough memories.

Some question God.  Wondering how an all-knowing, all-loving God could allow such grief to take place?

He could have stopped this!  He could have spared them the pain!  Why didn’t He?

We listed out the the good his parents had done – their love for others… the ministry they’d birthed… the church they’d planted.  We reminded God of the crazy faith they possessed – their outlandish obedience.  Obedience that would scare the mess out of most Christians.  We considered the complete devotion to God… and wonder why?

Why did God allow their son to die?

They didn’t deserve this!

Yet as I watched my friend mourn the loss of her two-year-old son last week, I witnessed a strength that defies all earthly explanations.  

For on a cold day in Michigan, as the winter winds swirled through the headstones and out over an open grave in a small town cemetery, a young mother cried in a church down the street.  Before her, a tiny white coffin held the body of her little boy. 

There at the very point where her greatest loss and deepest fears were realized, this grieving mother rose up and worshipped...and in her worship, God came near.  

There’s a surreal beauty that comes from a heart that’s surrendered. 

Through her pain, Malyn found comfort by choosing to worship the One who had given Camden to her in the first place…this child who needed a family and a home and a name.  She invited the congregation to sing one of Camden's favorite songs with her.

Far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can't see

And this mountain that's in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea

Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
Through it all, through it all
It is well

So let go my soul and trust in Him
The waves and wind still know His name

And it is well

With me.

(Bethel Music)

Malyn's act of release and surrender shook the place, leaving no one untouched.  

And in it we witnessed the power of love – no matter the cost.

You see, loving comes without guarantees.

Love makes us vulnerable to pain.

Brian and Malyn were not promised thousands of tomorrows with their son.  Oh, they hoped for them – likely hadn’t considered the alternative.  What we saw on the day of his adoption was the beginning of a lifetime of happy memories…and really – that’s exactly what they got… even if the lifetime was much shorter than anyone could have imagined.

So the question comes down to this - is love worth the risk?  Worth the possibility of pain?  Worth the price of loss?

Some would lash out at God – blaming Him for not stepping in.  Accusing Him for allowing such tragedy.  But the truth is this - death was never God’s plan.  He never wanted tiny coffins.  Never wanted empty cribs, crying mothers and hurting fathers.  That wasn’t His original design.

On the day sin entered the world, God the Father was the One left with empty arms, broken dreams and unfulfilled plans.  The separation brought Him such grief and He longed for what once was…wanted it so much so that He took a risk and laid all that He had on the line in hopes of winning us back.

The death of His own Son, Jesus, was the price God paid for the chance to love us and call us His own…and He did it knowing there was a possibility we’d turn Him down. 

It was a risk, but He did it anyway. 

Did you know He loves you that much?

Loved you enough to risk it all?  All in the hopes that you would accept the love He has to offer?

He did and He does…and He’ll never stop… because death might separate, but it can’t keep a Father from knowing your name, longing to hold you and loving you still.

The offer stands ready... I hope you will receive it.

Camden David Sneed
June 1, 2013 - January13, 2016

Click here to watch Camden's funeral.   The sermon was preached by Camden's grandpa, Don Smith.

(A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with the funeral, medical and adoption expenses for Camden.)

If this story has touched you, please share it with others.  Camden's life impacted us all and we want many to know the love he taught us in just two short years.

Sisterhood

It’s been stirring in my soul. 

A message… always churning…

Unsettling…

Disheartening…

Longing for something better...

It’s the stuff that disquiets the spirit and steals rest… and so, I will speak, praying to God that it brings a greater depth of love and unity, acknowledging that I too, I know the struggle.  Know it well, for it is one I battle daily.

I see inside the walls of the Western Church, women who are grasping for meaning… for value.  And in the struggle for that which brings inner peace, we’ve stepped on and over our sisters…we've caused wounds... we’ve brought pain.

Does this message apply to the men?  It does.  But for this moment, let’s let it be us.  Just us.  The women…

We sit next to each other in the pews.  Worship with passion within reach of one another, yet inside is a struggle that divides and destroys.  It is the age-old lie that Satan has used from day one.  The very lie he used to convince Eve to taste the fruit.

You…are not…enough… 

You don't measure up.  

You're missing out on something better.

Once our attention is in his grasp, the barrage of convincing ‘truths’ overwhelms our minds, binding us.  Consuming us.  Keeping us from the ability to give and receive grace and soon we chime in, adding our own beliefs to the enemy's collection of divisive and destructive lies.

She doesn’t like me.

They’re talking about me.

They think they're better than me because I'm a single mom…an ex-addict…a current addict…an adulteress...a SAHM…a career mom…(you fill in the blank).

I wish I was as skinny as her.

I could do that better than her.

She’s so stuck up.

She's so perfect… I'll never measure up.

Who does she think she is?

And on and on and on and on it goes. 

“But I love Jesus,” we say.  And love Him, we do.  Yet as our love for Jesus remains steadfast, our actions and our thoughts are busy elsewhere leaving me convinced that Satan doesn’t need our hearts to do his bidding – he just needs our attention.

Eyes off Jesus, no longer overwhelmed by His Amazing Grace, we are best able to focus on all that Satan wants us to believe about others…and ourselves… and there, in the clutches of his message for us, we find ourselves bound in a web of turmoil, loneliness and pain.

Want to hear the real truth?

None of us – not one is exempt.  We all have our struggles… our doubts... our fears.  We all hear the lies.   Whether your sister across the aisle is your friend or not, the saying holds true - we likes to be liked… or at least tolerated.

Somehow, we have created a belief that unity is only attainable when all parties agree with one another on all issues.  

Not so. 

Unity is not uniformity. 

Are we all different?  Yes – in so many ways.  In our looks, our talents, our relationships, our skin color, our size, our tax bracket… but we have one thing in common – we are covered by the righteousness of Jesus – and that, my sisters, is why Satan is seeking to gain your attention.

He hates what he sees when he looks at you.  He hates when he sees us loving on one another…encouraging one another…growing together – and so his main objective is to bring pain, uncertainty and division.

Ask my kids and they’ll tell you the many times I’ve told them that “there are billions of people in this world – many who are ready and willing to hurt your feelings and cut you down… but when you walk in these doors, you are free to be you. 

Inside the walls of our family I will not allow you to slander, mock and hurt one another. 

In here, you’re accepted… you’re safe. 

In here, we build each other up and encourage when another is down. 

In here, you’re always loved…without question…without reservation.

In here…in here, we do grace.”

And to you, my sisters in Christ, I say the same.  Can we make this our mantra?  Can we commit to doing this for one another?  Can we agree that this world is broken and hurting and sometimes the weight of it all wearies the soul and weakens the spirit?  Can we agree that inside the doors of the Kingdom, we need a respite?  A safe retreat?

A place where we can see beyond what meets the eye and love the soul within?

There are billions of people in this world, sisters.  Many who are ready and willing to hurt your feelings and cut you down… but when you walk in these doors of the Kingdom, you are free to be you. 

Inside the walls of our family, must we slander, mock and hurt one another?

Can we instead say… 'in here, you’re accepted… you’re safe?'

In here, we build each other up and will encourage you when you’re down. 

In here, you’re always loved…without question…without reservation.

Because in here, we do grace.

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another.

In the same way I loved you, you love one another.

This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

-John 13