Is There Any Hope?
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
David C. Wright
Jeremiah 29:1-14
February 13, 2011

         If you look on the map for the town of Flagstaff, Maine, you won’t find it.  It’s not there any more.  In 1950, the town was flooded as a dam was built on the Dead River to enlarge Flagstaff Lake and provide hydroelectric power.  A man who grew up in Flagstaff remembers that the time leading up to the flooding of the town was very sad to watch.  Why paint a house that will soon be covered with water?  Why maintain your lawn?  Why should a business make repairs to its store?  Eventually, trash even began to pile up along the streets as the town with no hope deteriorated.  When there is no hope, even the motivation to do routine things fades away, and our lives deteriorate.
          As we come down the homestretch in our series in the book of Jeremiah (and some of you will take hope in that fact!), we finally find a word of hope.  Judgment has come to the nation of Judah, in the person of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonian empire.  Judah has become a vassal state, paying heavy tribute money to Babylon, while over 3000 of its brightest and most skilled citizens have been carried off in exile to Babylon, to serve that nation.  The Babylonians allowed correspondence between the exiles and those remaining in Judah, and Jeremiah, who remained in Jerusalem, was not pleased by what he was hearing from Babylon.  So, he wrote a letter to the exiles, excerpts of which are found in Jer. 29.  Listen to what he says:
         8  For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,
         9  for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.
         10  For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. (Jer. 29:8-10)
          Here, Jeremiah is confronting false hope.  False prophets are telling the exiles not to unpack their suitcases- that they will soon be returning home to Judah!  They were probably influenced by set-backs that Nebuchadnezzar was having in some military engagements.  But Jeremiah knows better.  God has determined that his people will spend 70 years in Babylon as a time of purification and penance.  Jeremiah believes there is reason to hope, but he knows the dangers of false hope.  False hope may get you through a short season, but when the disappointment comes it will put you in even greater despair than before!
          People today are looking for a sense of hope to get them through hard times.  Some rely on obtaining new possessions for a sense of hope- that new car, house, or vacation home that we hope will bring happiness to our lives.  But deep down, we know that any happiness they bring will be short-lived, because ultimately material things don’t satisfy us.  Besides, they deteriorate and can be taken away from us.  Others look to political leaders for a sense of hope- think about those in Egypt right now- but we’re almost always disappointed by the inability of politicians to bring a better life to us.  Some place their hope in their careers, believing that they will advance quickly or really make a difference by what they do.  Others place their hope in personal relationships, which seems a promising place for hope.  But, even promising relationships can go bad, and we can quickly become estranged from those closest to us.  Then there is the “When I” kind of hope- when I go to college…. when I marry… when I have kids… when the kids leave home… when I can move farther south- then things will be better!  But some of these things never materialize, or when they do, they may disappoint us.
          False or shaky foundations for hope are not ultimately helpful.  And Jeremiah knows that.  So he points the people to a more reliable source of hope.
         11  For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
         12  Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.
         13  When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,
         14  I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jer. 29:11-14)
          Jeremiah’s hope is in the promise of God.  God promised that he has plans for his people- “plans for their welfare and not for harm, to give them a future with hope.”  Although God was purifying his people during a dry and difficult time, there was a purpose behind it- it was for their good.  And God promised that he would return them to their homeland in 70 years.  That is where their hope lay- not in the changing political or military fortunes of Babylon, but in the character and promise of God.
          I keep a slip of paper tucked into the cover of my Daytimer.  It contains information on flights from Washington, D.C. to Portland, Maine from about 15 years ago.  It reminds me of the time when Jon Swanson, a college student from the church I was serving, went on a ski trip to Maine with a group from his school.  I knew Jon well, having been on mission trips with him and having worked closely with him on the youth council for our large youth group.  While skiing, John fell hard on his head and fractured his skull, sustaining brain damage.  No one knew whether he would live or die, and if he lived, they didn’t know how much brain function he would have.
          Jon’s parents rushed to Lewiston, Maine to be with him.  They got a large piece of poster paper, wrote on it, and taped the paper to the ceiling above Jon’s bed, so it would be the first thing he saw when he woke up, as they hoped and prayed he would.  It contained these words from Jer. 29:11.  “For surely, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” 
          By the grace of God, Jon survived the accident, but the damage to his brain was significant, so Jon spent many months in rehab learning to walk, dress and feed himself, and most importantly, re-learning how to remember things, because of serious deficits in his short-term memory.  He eventually returned to school and graduated from the College of William and Mary.  He went on to graduate from Princeton Seminary, and later earned a Ph. D!  Jon now serves as a Presbyterian pastor in Miami, Florida.  The hope of Jon’s parents that God had a plan for him sustained them (and Jon) through bleak and uncertain times.
          And that’s where our hope lies.  That God has plans for us for our good, even when things are going as wrong as they possibly can.  Like those Israelite exiles, we seem to live in the “in between” times- between the hard realities we face in our day-to-day lives, and God’s promise of a better world which will be completed when Jesus returns.  We long for that future with hope as we face today’s harsh realities.  So what can we do during the intervening time of waiting?  Back to Jeremiah.
         4  Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
         5  Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.
         6  Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.
         7  But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jer. 29:4-7)
          They were to go about the business of fully living the life God had given them at that moment.  To build houses, plant gardens, raise families.  And to seek the welfare of the place where they lived!  We are also called to live faithfully in the places and situations in which God has placed us, working to improve the lives of all with whom God brings us in contact.  And to be conduits of God’s hope to others!
          In Anne Lamott’s book, Operating Instructions, she talks about her son, Sam, about whom she lamented that “he came without operating instructions!”  One time, when Sam was about two, he accidentally locked himself in the bathroom.  Anne tried in vain to explain to him how he could let himself out, but he was unable to understand her instructions, and became very frightened.  Anne called for help, but while they were waiting, she tried to comfort him.  The only thing she could do was to lie down on the floor and try to put her hand under the door.  She could only get two fingers under it, but it was enough.  He was able to grab onto those two fingers, which gave him hope and comfort until the promised help arrived.
          Anne comments that this has been her experience with God, too.  It often seems like we are clinging to God’s two fingers under a door, when we would prefer to be delivered from the situation in which we find ourselves, or at least to experience God’s presence more fully.  But sometimes, we have to wait in uncomfortable, incomprehensible situations, relying on the promises of God, with whom we have contact through the Scriptures, through worship, through the ministry of friends, and through the mystical presence of the Spirit.  We hang onto the two fingers of God for our hope.  I don’t know what your future looks like as you sit here this morning, but I encourage you to hang on to whatever you know of God while you wait for it in hope.

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