Happy New Year. If you haven’t already, you and millions of others are making plans for the New Year. We call them resolutions. Some people resort to all sorts of means and methods to get a peep into the future to plan for it, like this lady. She resorted to a spiritual medium—a fortune teller.
As they sat there in the candlelit tent, the mystic waved her hands around a crystal ball, divining the woman’s future. Suddenly, the soothsayer’s hands went to her face. “I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’ll be blunt.” the fortune teller said. “You need to prepare yourself to become a widow. Your husband will be murdered in a manner most gruesome before the year’s end.”
The woman was petrified. Her hands began to shake. Her throat tightened as she managed to croak out the question. “Will I b44e acquitted?”
Beware. Soothsayers, pundits and crystal ball readers can get the future wrong. Financial pundits predicted in 2022 that crypto currency would hit an all-time high. Wrong. It sank to an all time low as a leading player in digital currency—Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX—was arrested for defrauding his investors of $8 billion. Political pundits wrongly predicted a “red wave” of the 2022 mid-term elections. Wrong. Sports prognosticators predicted Belgium would win the Word Cup. Viva Argentina.
So, when it comes to your future, it will take more than a mystic with a crystal ball to help you make plans for a better year, especially when it comes to your spiritual wellbeing. Who do you turn to, to make better plans for your spiritual life?
The Prophet Jeremiah says turn to God because God knows the plan He has for you to give you a hope and a future according to Jeremiah 29:11. The details of that plan are in Jeremiah 29:4-14. It is God’s plan based on His promises to give you a hope and a future beyond 2023. First, God’s plan requires you to seek the welfare of the right place where He has you. Second, God’s plan requires you to seek the right words of the Master Planner to give you the plan for this hope and a future. Making plans for 2023? Don’t think crystal balls and fortune-tellers. Think faith in God’s plans.
First, God’s plan requires you to seek the welfare of the right place He has you. (4-7). God told exiled Judah through the letters of the Prophet Jeremiah to seek the welfare of Babylon, their exile place. It will be a difficult place of correction for a while, but it is the right place for future blessings.
5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
God sent Judah to Babylon because they were disobedient. They didn’t obey the Sabbatical law to give the land a rest. So, to correct them, they will spend 70 years in “time out”, if you will, to learn obedience.
During that “time-out” time, they were to seek the welfare of that “time-out” place. It would be the right place to bring them into a right relationship with God. During the exile they were to integrate themselves into God’s will—Babylon. They were to:
· Build.
· Plant.
· Raise up families.
· Pray for the welfare of the place.
The summary truth of this command of seeking the welfare of others is this: When you seek to bless others, even when you are in a difficult place, you will be blessed.
Church, you may not like the place you are right now: few in the pews, no pastor, your place up for sale. But if it is the right place where God has you, be obedient. Don’t sit. Bless.
· Build. While you are in the situation you are in, build ministries to help the needy. Don’t just feed the hungry during the holidays. People are hungry in July.
· Plant. While you are in your situation, establish a legacy that will live beyond you. Support other ministries like shelters. People need a roof over their heads all year long.
· Raise up a family. While you are where you are, be a family. Care for each other and invite others to be a part of your community of the open table.
· Pray for the welfare of the place where you are. While you are in your situation, continue to pray and support. Don’t abandon, but band together.
Be a welfare seeker like Jay. During the recent Buffalo snow storm, he ventured out in the blizzard to help a stranded friend. He got stuck himself. Fearing frostbite and death, he went to several houses offering $500 to shelter from freezing temperatures. They all turned him away. But he didn’t do the same when others came to him for help. He made it back to his truck. An abandoned person knocked on his window. “I need help.” “Get in.” Another stranded elderly person showed up. He got in. When his truck finally ran out of gas, he used the last signal on his phone’s GPS to find a nearby school. He broke in, found food and heat. He went out and found others stranded in the area and got them into the school. In all, he rescued ten. He left a note. That is welfare-seeking at its highest. When you are in a bad place but you seek the welfare of others in your same “rough spot”, you get blessed. What a failsafe plan for a hope and a future.
That’s God’s plan. Seek the welfare of the right place where He has placed you even though it may be a difficult place. Build, plant, be a family, pray. In the process, learn what you need to learn about your relationship with God. Be obedient and watch God bless you. Making plans for 2023? Don’t think crystal balls and fortune-tellers. Think faith in God’s plan to bless others to give you a hope and a future.
Second, God’s plan requires you to seek the right words of the Master Planner to give you a hope and a future, not the words of false prophets.
8 Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD. Je. 29:8,9
There were false prophets and diviners who were living among the exiles who were also living in denial that God would actually exile Judah for 70 years, giving the people false assurances of a speedy return to their land. They were spreading lies, falsehoods in His name, whom he has not sent.
False prophets have always been with us. In Jeremiah’s day, the false prophet Hananiah declared, in the name of Yahweh, that within two years Babylon would fall. But, Jeremiah prophesied to Hananiah: “This year you shalt die, because you have taught rebellion against the Lord.” So Hananiah the prophet died the same year. (Je. 28:16–17)
That’s how you know a true prophet from a false one. If what is prophesizes comes true, they are true a true prophet.
There were false prophets in Jesus’ day. That is why he warned of them in the Sermon on the Mount: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15
False prophets exist today. They are preachers in disguise. Don’t be fooled by the sound of their preaching as sound preaching. That is why Paul admonished the church in 11 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 11Tim. 2:15
Another test to distinguish a true prophet from a false one is biblical alignment. If what is prophesized does not line up with Scripture, then you have a wolf on your hands. You are responsible for wolf-filtering. Study, study, study. Don’t forget Jim Jones and drink the Kool-Aid.
When you listen to bad counsel, it leads to missed promises. God promised, if Judah accepts the 70 years of corrective exile and invest in the welfare of the place he brought them, they will be in a better place according to verse 10:
10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Je. 29:10
Church, as you plan your resolutions for 2023, be careful who you listen to. Don’t miss your blessings because of bad advice. Seek the right words of the Master Planner to give you a hope and a future. Making plans for 2023? Don’t think crystal balls and fortune-tellers. Think faith in God’s word.
If you want a better plan in 2023, first, seek the welfare of the right place where God has you placed. Don’t sit idle: build, plant, be a family and pray. Second, seek the right words of the Master Planner to give you a pattern for a plan for a hope and a future. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing, preachers in disguise, clothed in the “sound of preaching” absent of sound preaching.
Don’t be like the woman counseled by a soothsayer with a crystal ball, anxious over the future. For 2023, don’t think fortune teller, think faith in God’s plan. Happy New Year.
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