A New Year With God
Jeremiah 29:10-14
(Special note: The following is taken almost verbatim from a sermon which I delivered in January 1970 to our first congregation in Kingsport, Tennessee. I have made some edits and changes, but it occurred to me that some things have changed very little since then.)
Within the past few days, we have heard the familiar phrase, “Happy New Year” many times as we enter and look ahead to this new calendar year. As we welcome the 70’s, perhaps we may wonder ….
- Will this be a happy year for us, or will it be empty and drab like others before?
- Will we spend this year with the same doubts and fears as before?
- Will we spend this year struggling to keep up with the world around us?
- Will we spend this year wondering what will happen to us – good or bad?
OR,
- Will we spend this year with God? – in freedom, peace, confidence, and joy?
Let us be challenged today to begin the new year with God – living with Him, loving Him and looking for Him.
Our text from the book of Jeremiah is set about 600 years before Christ. King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem and taken the most useful people in Israel into exile in Babylon. Their living condition there was not horrible. They could build and plant (Jeremiah 29:4, 5), attend school and have jobs. Some of them even gained a good deal of prominence, but they were still in exile far, far away from home.
Jeremiah chose to remain in the devastated homeland, trying to console the people there. His thoughts, however, were also with the exiles. So, he wrote them a letter in which he revealed God’s plan for their future. From his divinely inspired pen, Jeremiah proclaimed that there would, indeed, come a new year with God.
His letter was filled with marvelous promises from God – His “I will”: (Jeremiah 29:14)
“I will visit you …” – wherever you are, no matter what separation nor barrier
“I will fulfil My promise …” – to be your God, above the gods of Babylon
“I will be found by you …” – to have personal fellowship; to be friend as well as Lord
“I will restore your fortunes …” – what has been taken from you; what I have given you
“I will bring you back …” – to the Promised Land where My name shall dwell.
As they read the letter, perhaps they may have responded, “That’s great, Jeremiah, when does He begin?”. Then, they read it again and heard their “you will”. “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
That was it! That was the key that unlocked the treasure house of God’s promises and hope for the future of His people.
The exile in Babylon began to make sense and the questions of the future emerged from the fog when they stopped depending upon themselves and began depending on the Lord; when they no longer added up their troubles and began counting their blessings; when they ceased looking for excuses and began looking for God.
The world hasn’t changed much since then. Nebuchadnezzar still has many, many people in exile today. Millions live in a world where God is not King. In this world, things do not seem too bad; we are free to build and plant, attend school and vote, have jobs and spend our earnings, make friends and even attend the church of our choice. But we sense that we are in exile, not really in our true home. Many of us may be feeling that desire deeply in our hearts to have “a new year with God”.
Those promises made 2600 years ago to the exiles in Babylon are still good from our God who does not change (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). His “I wills” are still in force.
“I will visit you; I will fulfill My promise; I will be found by you; I will restore your fortunes; I will bring you back”. No matter where we are, our God can bring us back into a blessed personal relationship with Himself through Jesus Christ. He can restore the image of Himself within us and bring us back into the homeland of light, life and love which He has created for us.
When will that begin for us? It will begin for us just as for those exiles long ago. When we heed the words of Jeremiah, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek for Me with all your heart”.
Yes, seeking, searching, pressing always to find Him; to make Him our own. Jesus illustrated this so well when He described the kingdom of heaven as a merchant in search of fine pearls and when he found that one of great price, he went and sold all he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:45, 46).
As we have said so many times before, we seek Him through worship, prayer, Scripture reading, reading lives of the Saints, doing good for others, etc.
May this be a year for us of seeking and finding rather than stumbling and falling. May we be freed from the exile imposed upon us by the world around us and be returned to our promised life of righteousness, peace and joy in Christ (Romans 14:17).
May this be “A New Year With God”.
Fr. Andrew
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