God Takes Us From The Pit To The Palace
No matter how old you are, you've had some trouble or tribulation, problem or pain. How is it that some people, who have just as many problems or pains as we do seem to remain cheerful and give the impression that for them every day is a good day? Jeremiah's experience, recorded in Jeremiah 38:1-13, unfolds the answer; God Takes Us From The Pit To The Palace. September 27, 2009.
Listen! “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away … And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with people, and he will live with them … He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4). Sound good? That’s where we’re headed. That’s what we’ve got to look forward to. But what about now? We’re still here on earth. The Bible makes it clear that in this world there will be tears and death and mourning and crying and pain, for the old order of things has not yet passed away. In fact, it is present reality.
Whether you are three days old or one hundred three years old, you’ve had some trouble or tribulation, problem or pain. How is it that some people, who have just as many problems or pains as we do – and sometimes more – seem to remain cheerful and give the impression that for them every day is a good day? Is it just their personality, are they faking it, or is it real? And if so, how do you and I get some of that? Jeremiah’s experience, recorded in chapter thirty-eight of his book, unfolds the answer, God Takes Us From The Pit To The Palace.
Plopped in
We are human beings, and we tend to cling to this life, this world, wanting to make the best of it – nothing wrong with that – but sometimes going so far as to develop the mindset, “We deserve a break today.” Who says? Ronald McDonald? When did God ever say that? What we need is a reality-check that this world is not the be-all-end-all of our existence, that living in this world is not the ultimate goal, that there’s something much more, much better still to come. So, God allows what I call “reminders” to come into our life, and many of those reminders are not are pleasant. But doesn’t it seem like we’ve had more than our share lately here at Grace Church when we hear about dear friends, fellow members, walking out of the doctor’s office with a diagnosis of cancer, coming home from work feeling ill and by evening having the chest cracked open for emergency aorta repair, dealing with the lingering effects of shingles which prevents getting out and about. You’ve got your own story. I’m got mine. But these problems and pains generally come from outside of our own doing and control. Last Sunday’s worship and Pastor Lindemann’s sermon addressed how we handle that. God has already given us perfect soul-health. Physical healing will come in its own time and way and may not come on this side of heaven. In the mean time God can and will use us to heal others’ souls.
Then there are problems and pains which we bring on ourselves. Before we go farther I have to address the wrong notion which pops into the minds of many, and maybe you have felt this way, too. Something bad happens and right way, “God is getting me back for something bad I have done. I yell at my wife. Later I back out of the garage and clip off the side mirror. See! God is getting me back!” Please understand that God does not work that way. Actually, he should. We deserve his anger because we’ve stepped out of the bounds he sets, namely, “To hang out with me you need crystal pure thinking and behavior.” But the Bible’s key message, the best news there could ever be, is that God does not treat us as our sins deserve(Psalm 103:10). He does not and he will not bring punishment on us or retaliate with troubles for the trouble we cause him because he already did that and is done with that when he directed his anger for our wrong-doing to his Son, Jesus. It is true that sometimes there are consequences for sinful behavior that a person brings on himself or herself. Drink too much alcohol, and over time you’ll destroy your liver. Sexual promiscuity often results in a sexually transmitted disease. But when something bad happens, some problem or pain, it’s not because God is out to get us. Just the opposite. He uses those issues to draw us closer to himself, teaching us to trust him more and to grow in patience and perseverance.
But there is another source of problems and pain. Jeremiah had to deal with it. He got beat on and brutalized, verbally and physically, simply because he trusted in and proclaimed the truth about the true God. How would you like to have his assignment? Forty years of ministry and all of them laced with nothing but flack, especially from the big shots in the land and the people in authority positions.
It’s hard to imagine people so stuck in their own plans, their ideas, their own selfishness that they attack God’s people and God’s truth. But the leaders in Judah didn’t want to hear Jeremiah unload God’s message, especially the constant drumbeat warning, “God is going to allow the Babylonians to attack. You’re toast, and it’s your own fault. So, surrender! Give yourselves up to the Babylonians if you want to save your necks and live!” The political leaders wouldn’t buy it and put pressure on the king to silence Jeremiah. The officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by things he is saying to them.” King Zedekiah’s thumbs went up, and Jeremiah went down. The bad guys decided not to kill him on the spot but to lower him into a big underground water storage tank to let him rot there. We might think Jeremiah was going to drown, but famine had swept through the land. Imagine what was going through his mind! “I hope there’s solid ground in there.” Down he went, lower and lower. “Are my toes going to hit the bottom now?” Lower and lower. “Will I find any way to crawl out?” Lower and lower. “How long will I last?” Then his toes felt something, something squishy. “Oh, no!” Mud – thick, sticky, smelly mud. First his toes, then his feet, then his ankles, then halfway up his calves. Yuck! And the moment he squirmed to keep his balance, half a dozen rats sloshed by. What kind of prayer do you think was on his lips? Nothing is printed here, but we know Jeremiah had confidence that even if he died in this slime pit, God would eventually pull him out to the palace of heaven.
Sometimes we get lowered into a pit not because we did anything but because something was done to us or said to us that counters what we believe and know to be true about God. You may be wondering, “When have I ever been persecuted?” But what do you call it when your boyfriend calls you a prude because you told him that you are going to remain a virgin till marriage, when your buddies make fun of you because you won’t sit with them through a dirty movie knowing that Jesus is sitting on the other side, when your co-worker thinks your nuts for not faking sick to take a mental health day, when your friend gets mad at you because you refuse to listen to her gossip, when your neighbor shoots a smug smile in your direction while lying in his hammock watching you drive off to church? Jesus predicted it, “If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also”(John 15:20). The apostle Peter tells us, “Don’t be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you … If you are insulted because of the name of Christ … praise God that you bear that name”(1 Peter 4:12,14,16). This has been going on since Cain killed his brother all the way to Jeremiah’s day all the way to September 2009. We can try to blow that off and say, “Poor Jeremiah!” But when it happens to us, we tend to get angry and upset with God. Yet God has his reasons. He wants us to see the pit we’re in as a training ground for patience and reliance on him. Being lowered into a pit is no fun, but Jeremiah’s experience reminds us that in some way shape or form sooner or later someone will give us flack for being connected to Jesus and lower us into the pit of persecution. In fact, if flack does not come our way, we may be doing something wrong and hiding our faith.
Pulled out
Then along came Ebed-Melech, whose name means “servant of the king,” an Ethiopian working as an official in the royal palace. Who would have guessed that this official would have the courage to counter all the king’s horses and all the king’s men? Who would have guessed that rescue would come from this foreigner? He not only got permission to pull Jeremiah out but did it with tender care. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes … “Put these under your arms to pad the ropes.” And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard. Jeremiah was pulled from the pit to the palace, but his palace stay wasn’t like living in the lap of luxury. He was still under guard.
Do you want to play the palace? You certainly can try to climb out of any pit you’ve been pushed into. Nothing wrong with using the strength God has given you. But maybe you’ll need help. Who will be your Ebed-Melech? Maybe it will be someone you know. Maybe like Jeremiah rescue will come from someone you did not expect. Then again, maybe, just maybe, you’ll remain in the pit and not get full relief and rescue on this side of heaven. Maybe God is allowing you to remain in the pit so you can be an Ebed-Melech and boost someone else out.
The pastor met a young boy carrying a cage with birds nervously fluttering inside. He asked the boy, “What are you going to do with them?” The boy replied, “I caught them in a field, and I’m going to feed them to the cat.” The pastor offered to buy them and handed over five dollars. The boy happily trotted off calling over his shoulder, “You made a bad deal. They can’t sing.” The pastor went around to the back of the church and let the birds go. The next Sunday he brought the empty cage to illustrate an important truth. “When I set them free,” he said, “it seemed as though they flew heavenward singing, ‘Rescued! Rescued! Rescued!’ ”
When you’re in a pit and don’t know if you’ll ever get out, when you’ve got some problem or pain, think about this. Jesus went into the pit of hell for us, which is far, far worse than any grief or flack we can ever imagine. Jesus is our Ebed-Melech. He went there so we wouldn’t, and God pulled him out to demonstrate that one day, whether we remain in the pits in this life from someone else’s pushing us in or from stumbling in on our own or from some outside force we can’t control, eventually he will pull us out of the pit of this world so that we can fly to his palace where there will be no death or mourning or crying or pain. With that truth tucked in your heart you can tell anyone who asks and even those who don’t, “Every day is a good day because of Jesus!” Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on September 27, 2009
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