Jeremiah 29:23, 10-14 God Remembers Us  8/15/10 by Dr. J. Ben Sloan, LMPC

Human memory is short.  Alas, memory lapses aren’t limited to those over 50.  I have seen twenty year olds look for their keys for hours only to find them in the refrigerator.  I really thought the lady was crazy or a thief who I caught in the Walmart parking lot trying to open my car door- until she saw her car two rows over… and then I did the same thing about two weeks later.  I have seen mothers forget their children- especially in a stressful hurry.  They would get in the car, start counting heads and then say a prayer that went something like, “O God, please keep anybody from kidnapping junior.”I’ve had preacher friends forget to show up at a wedding and another forget to show up at a funeral.     It is not purposeful neglect, it is stress.  I have had teenagers who have problems with memory.  I know some teenagers- that I will not name- who I have asked to do something for the common good of the household- like clean the room, or mow the grass.  Somehow they can remember twenty of their friends’ phone numbers, they can make fun of me for going in a room and forgetting what I came in there for- or forgetting my keys… but they tend to forget the tasks assigned to them.   

I. GOD DOES NOT FORGET-      The good news for us is that God’s memory is not like ours.  He does not forget- though sometimes we may feel He does.  The Father did not forget the Son when He died on the cross- but He raised Him up.  The people of Israel, the scriptures say, forsook God- so God forsook them.  They left God out, so God left them out.  The enemy came in Jeremiah’s day and took the people to another country not for a little while- but for 70 years.  But Jeremiah had foretold that God would remember them.   Daniel, in his book remembered this prophecy from Jeremiah (Dan. 9:2 ff.) and when the people were in exile 70 years pleaded with God to end the exile, and God heard his prayer.  Some of you today feel like God has forgotten or forsaken you.  You may have lost a job, or a spouse, or a good deal of money, or your health, and you feel far from God.  You wonder if God will remember you.  Computers do not forget- though their memory may be erased.  God, who made the brain that made the computer does not forget.  The Bible says He inscribes you on the palm of His hands.
            There was no doubt that the people living in exile felt that God had forgotten them.  Perhaps they felt like they deserved to be forgotten- for they had forsaken God- not kept the Sabbath.  Perhaps we too feel like we have not kept the Sabbath.  They had worshipped other gods. They were immoral sexually.  The temple had been burned.  The walls destroyed.  Little children led away captive, wives and young women were raped.  Old people were killed who could not run away or be taken captive.   They were by the waters of Babylon (present day Iraq) weeping. They felt  God had forgotten them- they could not even sing a hymn.   Have you ever felt like all you could not even speak?  Have you felt numb by your circumstances, and felt that God had led you out into the desert to die.  That’s how they felt.  But God remembered them.  He does not forget you- though you may forget Him. 
            Maybe you have become so busy, so stressed out that you look around and you are spiritually depleted.   You have climbed and climbed and climbed and now you’re saying, “Now what?”  You have been too busy with worldly things.   One general about to go to battle prayed, “Lord I am about to become very busy.  If I forget you,  do not Thou forget me.”  Not a bad prayer. But if our battles are continual, we need to take time out to remember.  God remembered them after 70 years. 

II. GOD GIVES US A HOPE AND A FUTURE-

God’s people were in trouble.   taken to a place they did not want to be. They were held back from what they wanted.  They did not volunteer for this sad state of affairs, and they could not control their situation.  Isn’t that every trial we face?  Take being sick- you are where you don’t want to be, you didn’t prefer this, and you are in a state of waiting.  Maybe your business is not where you want it to be because of the economy.  You didn’t choose this, you certainly would not prefer it, and you are waiting for the economy to get better.  It is a captivity.  That is where the people of God were and where many of us are.

            Hope only comes in trouble.  When things are not hard hope is flattery and not so meaningful.  It is when we are in darkness that we hope for the light. It is when we are hungry that we hope for food.  It is when the world is without strength that we hope for God’s strength.  It is when we are weak that we recognize that God is strong and His grace is all-sufficient to meet your needs.  If only the blessed in this life have hope, then hope is not real for all.  God offers hope to everyone, and our job in part is to offer that hope as well.  There are many today who have put their hope in finances, and they have lost that hope.   There are many today who have put their hope in work and being productive, but they have been laid off.  There are many today who have put their hope in human relationships, but their relationships are broken.  This life is tentative and fragile and sometimes hard and cruel.  But there is a promise from God, but it is a promise not for everyone- only for those who believe the promise and the One who promises it.  The great promise is that God will give us a future and a hope.
            The good news is that there is a time when our captivity ends.  God limits the pains and heartaches of this life.  The ultimate limitation is death and eternal life for those who believe.  But God limits what this life can do to us in many ways.  He gives us a future and a hope.
            The school system had a tutoring program for kids in the hospital who missed a lot of school.  One teacher was sent to a boy who had been badly burned.  She was shocked when she saw him.  She told him she was supposed to work with him, teaching him to learn adverbs and nouns.   When she left, she felt like she didn’t get much accomplished.  The next day when she came back the nurse approached her, “What did you say to that boy?” She asked.  The teacher felt like she had said something wrong and began to apologize.  “No,” the nurse said.  “We were worried about that boy, but since you came there has been a huge change in him.”  The boy later said, “I had completely given up on hope, and thought I was dying.  But they wouldn’t send a teacher to work with nouns and adverbs to a dying boy, would they?”  Education teaches us there is hope- and that is important to remember as school begins.  But faith teaches us there is hope that goes even beyond this life.
III. YOU WILL FIND GOD- It is in our hopelessness that we often seek and find God.  It is in our hopeless estate that we call out to Him. 
A. IN PRAYER- God is not deaf.  God remembers to hear. Too often we assume that God will not or cannot answer our prayers. No problem is an unmixed evil if we use it as an occasion to pray.   Our great sin in prayer is not that we don’t pray- it’s that we don’t believe God will answer our prayer.  Jeremiah says- then… you will call to me and I will answer you.  When the people were still worshipping other gods- God did not answer their prayers.  Why should He?  When the people were busy with adultery, God didn’t answer their prayers- why should He?  But when the people were taken away from all their temptations- no more slime on TV, no more hate on the internet, no more cursing songs, no more mocking God- then they got straight with God.  God hears when we approach Him- and approach Him in holiness.

            There is a kids story about a little bear whose mother dies, and he is on his own.  You feel that the poor little cub will not last long because a huge mountain lion is tracking him, waiting for the right time.  But the little bear sees a male bear and starts imitating this bear- scratching his back, catching fish, digging for grubs.  This bear was the daddy bear and one day, to the mountain lion’s delight the two were separated-the lion and the bear came face to face and the little bear did what it saw the daddy bear do- it got up on its hind legs- though they were short and tries to give a great big roar but only a squeak comes out.  But the mountain lion’s face drops and it growls and runs away.  What the little bear didn’t see was the daddy bear came and was standing up behind it.   Look, we are not alone- we have a Father and when we cry weakly but earnestly He comes- answers our prayer and gives us hope.

B. IN SEEKING HIM- Too often we have treated God like a spoiled person.  There’s a book about a relationship of parents to young teens today.  It is called, “Get out of my life… But can you drive me and my two friends to the mall first?”  That, is unhealthy, but for many we have treated God like that.  We want God to stay at arms length- not really transform us,  but we want Him to be there for us when we need Him.  This is trying to play a game with God.  God wants whole hearted- all in- fully committed disciples- who are not afraid or too busy doing other things to pay God any attention.  When the people had everything stripped away- they started seeking Him- and they found Him.  Do not wait until all is stripped away.  Give God your heart, your hopes and dreams now.   They were seeking everything else but Him. The temple was still there- and sometimes they would go- but basically they were not caring.   Jesus said it too- Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened, ask and it shall be given to you.  Part of what we are called to do is put our trust and confidence in God.  This is very hard when we feel like we are in trouble.  But it is by far the best alternative.  It is a bit like putting confidence in your medical doctor.  If you have confidence in your doctor you will seek their help when you are in need, and you will find their help.  If you think that doctors can’t do anything for you, and they don’t know what they are talking about, or they don’t know enough to help- then you will not come to them.  If you are limiting the power of God to help you, then you will not come to Him.  You are on your own.  You are in the ultimate state of aloneness where it is all up to you and there is no outside help.  God is ABLE to give you a future and a hope- do you really believe that?
            There was a series of movies in the 80s that still replay some time called “Back to the Future.”  It was about a young man who went back to his parents’ early past.  If he could not get his future mother to date his dorky father then his future would disappear.  He had a photograph in his pocket, and the more distant his father became to his mother his picture began to fade.  I liked that movie, except that it seemed to give the idea that the future was all up to us.  It is not.  Our future may look bleak, but God is the One who will lead us into the future.  I have talked to young people who are uncertain about bringing a baby into this world because they are scared of all the wrongness and pig-headedness in the world.  But don’t forget the main ingredient in the formula of the future.  Ironically the main ingredient is the one thing too many people don’t talk about at all- that is God. Because He lives we can face tomorrow.  God will not forget us, but will give us a future an a hope.  Many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand But I know who holds tomorrow And I know who holds my hand.  God does not forget us.  He is behind you.  He is waiting to restore you- waiting for you to seek Him and to pray to Him.  Write down one thing you feel hopeless about- or one thing you have hope about- or both and put it in the offering plate today- give it back to God. Don’t put your name on it- unless you really want to.  I will pray over your hopes and fears.

One thing I feel hopeless about ________________________________________________________________________

One thing I feel hopeful about _________________________________________________________________________

By putting this in the offering plate- I offer them to God, committing them to Him.