Stay Here

Jeremiah 42:10
If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you.

There is a temptation to run away when things aren’t going right. It's easier to abandon what is devastating and run to what seems to be working but what God wants us to do many times is to stay where we are. Yes, God is a progressive God, he is always moving forward, but in order for us to catch up with God sometimes we have to stay where we are.

Jerusalem and Judah had been devastated because the people over the years had been disobedient to God, burning incense and making offerings to the “Queen of Heaven.” The Queen of Heaven was a false god that personified the lusts and cravings of Israel. In their minds, they faired better when they were making sacrifice to the “Queen of Heaven” but Jeremiah reminded them God was being patient with them because he didn’t want to wipe them out but the destruction they were now experiencing was a result of God’s judgment. The people that were left after most of the people had been killed or taken captive wanted to know what God wanted them to do. However, when they inquired of Jeremiah they already knew what they wanted to do in their hearts. They had their bags packed and ready to go to Egypt. This inquiry was just a formality. It’s how we come to church every week. We already know what we are going to do we just want to see if God or the preacher is going to co-sign to our mess.

They said, Jeremiah, Keep it 100% real, what does God want us to do about this devastation, this famine, this recession. What does God want us to do? God told Jeremiah that he sees the hardship of his people and he is relenting from his judgment. He’s about to turn the economy back around under the condition that they remain in a devastated land and let God build them back up.

God said he would:

1. Build them back up and not tear them down. God wants to rebuild what he allowed to be torn down. Whatever the enemy devastated, God is getting ready to rebuild it if we would only stay where we are.

2. He would plant them and not pluck them. God is about ready to plant where nothing was growing but we got to stick around long enough to see it grow.

This didn’t sound appealing because building and planting takes time and the people wanted immediate prosperity and protection in Egypt. It’s hard to build and plant when you want what you use to have immediately under the false worship of a lustful and materialistic era. This is the time to rebuild and plant and you want to run to the immediate.

They told Jeremiah, “You made that up! “That’s not what they wanted to hear. Jeremiah told them if they left that God would wipe them out and he would tear them down and pluck them up in the land they were fleeing to.

This is the time God wants us to be still and restore order back into our own devastated lands.

1. Work on your own marriage instead of tipping out for greener pastures. What looks like green grass on the other side of the fence is really artificial turf. Get your fertilizer out and take care of your own grass.

2. Restore order to your own community instead of abandoning it for a nicer neighborhood. Foreclosed homes are just homes ready to be restored and empty buildings are potential businesses and ministries waiting to be birthed.

3. Make your church better instead of running to another church and making it worse. Don’t leave before it’s time for you to grow and help your church be better.

4. Stay on your job and make your company better instead of going somewhere else that looks stable just because it’s bigger. If there is no struggle there is no progress. It takes a small business 3 to 5 years before it sees its first profit.
Unless God builds a building the builder builds in vain. Unless the Lord watches over a city the watchmen watches in vain. Be still and know that He is God!

Dear God, give me the discipline to remain in a land that I would rather leave. This devastated land is my promised land but I have to rebuild it after it's been devastated through disobedience. It's not that you have left us, but we left you. Now we re-turn our faces back to you and we humbly submit our plans to your will. Help us to rebuild what was torn down and plant what was plucked up.

In Jesus Name,
Amen