The Shirt I Left In Greeley

The Shirt I Left In Greeley

by Tom Jacobs

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

Praise the Lord. Take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 137. Psalm 137. I really hadn’t anticipated ministering along these lines. But in some conversations that I’ve overheard, and then as I overheard myself speaking a little bit to somebody last night, I realized that this might be a need. And so I’ll minister along these lines this morning. Psalm 137.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst of it we hung up our harps. For there our captors demanded of us songs, and our tormentors mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill. May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for Your word. We thank You that Your word ministers to us in every facet of our experience. And I pray this morning that You would match up Your word with our experience and match our experience with Your word. For those that find themselves in their own personal Babylon this morning, I pray that You would speak and minister very specifically. To those who may not sense that we’re in exile at this point in time, I pray that You would hide Your word deep down in our hearts, that we would be able to call it to remembrance during those times when we feel apart from You and feel away from the touch and the anointing of Your Holy Spirit. Bless our time this morning. I thank You for it. Bless Your word to our hearts, Jesus.

Amen. Amen. Israel found themselves in really a series of irony here. As we look at this text, and one of the great gifts… I’m reading through my Bible in a year too. Somebody said they were doing that this year.

And I’m in Psalms right now. I don’t know where you’re at in yours, but I’m in Psalms. And the Psalms just continue to amaze me because they speak to every situation. Every human emotion explodes on the pages of the Psalms. If you read through the rest of this psalm, the last verse, the psalmist is imploring God to please dash the babies of his enemies on the rocks. That’s quite an emotional statement. We’re not going to deal with that this morning. Talk to me over lunch.

But this psalm is a series of irony. Israel finds themselves… The people of Israel find themselves in Babylon. They’re in exile and they’re in Babylon. They’d been disobedient, as was their custom. And God was using Babylon to discipline them. And it’s an interesting thing. Whenever God uses someone to discipline His people, they never escape God’s judgment.

Today, God is using, I believe, the media and secular society to upbraid the church. They have pointed out some of our mistakes, glaring mistakes. And they’ve become more glaring as the media has exploited them. And I think God has used the media in many ways to demonstrate to the church that we do not have it together yet. Now, that does not mean that God will not judge the media. And that’s exactly where Babylon finds themselves. It’s an awesome thing to be used in the discipline of the Lord, because we never escape His judgment. We never escape His righteousness and His holiness. Now, of course, repentance fits into that. And if any Babylonian would have repented, God would have blessed them with His presence. We don’t have record of any of them deciding to do that. But they’re in Babylon. They’re by the river. And Israel would gather while they were in exile on the banks of the river to worship. That would become their sanctuary. That would become their place of worship. And as they gathered there, their captors began to taunt them. The Babylonians began to taunt them. And their taunt was, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” Now, they’re apart from Jerusalem. We’ll talk about that in just a moment. They’re in exile.

And the Babylonians are saying, “Why don’t you sing us one of these wonderful songs?” This place of worship has actually become a place of remorse as the Babylonians are taunting them. Israel always used song to accompany their worship. In a great example, 2 Chronicles chapter 29, when they were restoring the temple: Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel. Israel always accompanied their worship with singing, just as the church does. And we’ve inherited that. It’s a long-standing tradition. There’s something about believers coming together. You rarely find us coming together that we don’t sing. It’s part of our worship. And the Babylonians come to the Israelites and they say, “Why don’t you sing us one of the songs of Zion?” What are they saying to them? They don’t really want to hear them worship. They’re taunting them with that. And they’re saying, “Well, you sang while you were in Jerusalem. Now that you’re in captivity, why don’t you sing us one of the songs of Zion? Why don’t you sing about how God delivers you? Why don’t you sing about how God has blessed you so abundantly?

“Why don’t you sing about how you’re the head and not the tail? Why don’t you sing about how God always heals you and always restores you? While you’re out here in the desert of Babylon. Sing us one of the songs of Zion, why don’t you?”

A series of irony, a series of Israel being beaten down and beaten down and beaten down. And in fact, this psalm says that they actually hung their harps on the willow branches. And Israel, when they were still in Jerusalem, would use the willow branches and the palm branches to worship the Lord. They’d wave them before the Lord. Leviticus chapter 23 remarks about their waving and their offering to the Lord. And the very branches of worship now are used as a hanging place for their harps.

They could confess along with Job, as Job said in Job 30, “Therefore my harp is turned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of those who weep.” Israel was away from God’s presence. For Israel, during this time, the presence of God really equaled Jerusalem. We read psalms about Zion, marching up to Mount Zion. Psalms, what is it, Psalm 120, the psalms through that section are called, now the term is going to, Psalms of Ascent. And they were psalms that the Israelites sang as they went up to worship in Jerusalem, Mount Zion, as they climbed the steeps of the hill. And that was their worship place. And they were separated from their worship. You know, in this time, if you were a leper, there were a couple of problems that you would run into as a leper. One was the disease. You knew that you were going to die. And the second thing was that you were separated from the community. You were kicked out of the community. And to the Israelites at this time, community meant God’s presence. If you read through the Old Testament, whenever they’re separated from community, it means they’re separated from God. And that’s exactly where Israel finds themselves now. They’re separated from the presence of the Lord, and they long to go back to Jerusalem. They’re mourning over two things. One, they’re separated from Jerusalem. And the second is, according to verse 7, at least, “Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem, who said, ‘Raze it, raze it to its very foundation.’”

They’re not only concerned that they’re separated from Jerusalem, but also the Babylonians are still in Jerusalem, and they’re lowering the walls. They’re destroying the walls of Jerusalem. And so the Israelites find themselves separated from Jerusalem, and also knowing that that place of worship is being destroyed. They find themselves in exile. Have you ever found yourself there?

Have you ever found yourself just in that place where you think, well, they always say the heavens are brass. I like to say, well, I don’t like to say, but I do say, it seems like my prayers just bounce off the ceiling, come back down and fall on my head. Those times when you feel a longing for the presence of the Lord, you feel a desire to enter into His presence and to know His presence and to function under the anointing, but it’s just not there. Sometimes people go through that, and I want to say this, and I want you to hear it. Sometimes people go through that for an extended period of time. Maybe as a believer, you’ve been looking around saying, “All these people are so wonderful, and they stand and worship the Lord, and they do all of these wonderful things, and they’re used in ministry, and they’re used mightily, and they speak truth to one another.” And it seems like all I do is sit around and watch. I want to ask you to raise your hands, but I would almost guarantee you that there are people in this room today that have thought that during the course of this week. Maybe you go on a retreat or you go to a camp and you think, “I’m going to get the release this time.

“I know the Lord’s really going to move this time.” And you go back home from the camp dejected because everybody else got something, but you didn’t. Times of exile. Perhaps you find yourself away from Jerusalem, out of His presence.

You find yourself attempting to go through the motions of worship, but not sensing it. Not really being moved in your heart of hearts. Worship almost becomes a mockery. You find yourself worshiping, or at least going through the motions, just to prove to everybody else around you that things are okay. I’m all right.

Perhaps your relationship with God is in disrepair. The walls are down. Perhaps it’s due to neglect. Perhaps tormentors really have set you back. We’ve talked so much about situations that we’ve gone through. People have spoken words, sometimes not even knowingly, and have spoken a word and you’re just devastated by it. It sets you back and you feel just the walls being torn down. Sometimes I think we enter into exile and we don’t even know why. We have that sense of being separated.

Maybe it’s biorhythms. I don’t know. But something, and we’re separated and we just can’t… We’re not in the groove. Don’t look at me like you don’t understand this. All of you have been through it. And we don’t know what to do.

And when you hear somebody really get up and just preach the word during those times, sometimes there’s anger that just wells up inside of you. It says, “What do you mean? I am so tired.” Somebody said it the other day: “I’m so sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Sometimes we can find ourselves in exile when we’ve been praying and praying and praying for healing, and the healing just doesn’t come. This morning, I would like to share some keys for the exile. And if you want to write them down, you can. If you want to just… You’ll remember them, I hope. I served under a pastor for a time who always used alliteration. You know, the three Ps of pornography and the three Ds of demographics or whatever. And I could never get into that. So I don’t have an alliteration here, but I’ll try to just help you remember. Some keys for the exile. When you find yourself in those places of spiritual dryness, maybe if you’re going through it right now, these will help you right now. Maybe if you’re not going through it right now, there will come a time. I don’t want to be a prophet of doom, but there will come a time. Because I think God uses times of exile, times of spiritual dryness in our spiritual lives. The first thing that we need to realize when we’re in exile is that God still speaks to the exile.

If you want to, you can turn over to Ezekiel chapter 1. I love the Old Testament because there are just little nuggets all around in it. And this is one of those little nuggets. Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 1. Now, it came about in the thirtieth year on the fifth day of the fourth month. Why couldn’t they just say January 15th or whatever?

While I was by the river Chebar among the exiles. While I was by the river Chebar among the exiles. Among the exiles. Among the exiles. Exiles. The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. Verse 3. And the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar. And there the hand of the Lord came upon him.

The first thing we need to understand is that God speaks to the exile. God still speaks in times of spiritual dryness. The river Chebar is right smack dab in the middle of Babylon. It may very well be the very river that the psalmist wrote this psalm about. By the river… Could have said, “By the river Chebar of Babylon, we hung up our harps. Because our captors are tormenting us, and we refuse to sing songs that were a mockery to our God.” By the rivers of Babylon, God spoke to Ezekiel. And the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel while he was still sitting in exile. When you’re in the desert, listen for the voice of God. When you sense yourself in exile, listen for the voice of God. Because God still is speaking. Sometimes He speaks in ways that we don’t understand that it’s Him. But He still is speaking. God never leaves us nor forsakes us. There are times when He’s very, very quiet. But He’s still there. And He’s still speaking. And today, you may be here at camp and may be saying, “Boy, everybody’s worshiping all around me. Everybody’s having a great time. I watched people last night just get wiped out in the Holy Spirit, and came back with joy and with a smile on their face.

“And I went to the snack shop and bought some peanuts. You know? Nothing’s happening.” God is still speaking. God spoke to Ezekiel right in the middle of exile. And I’m so excited for that. I’m excited because I have had times in my life when I’ve been in exile up to a period of two and sometimes three years when I just didn’t get it. I’m not as emotional as a lot of people. And I think there is some release there that Rhea has been just teaching me about. But I’m not one of those people that just gushes all the time.

It’s just not… That’s just not the way I’m made up. I don’t work that way. And you go ahead and gush and gush on me and I’ll… But God still speaks during those times. And sometimes I’m amazed when I feel so spiritually dry. And I’ll have Sundays like this, you know, temporary exiles where I just take a weekend trip to Babylon.

And I’ll walk away from sharing a message and I’ll think, “Boy, the heavens were just brass.” You know, I spoke a word and it seemed like it got to the edge of the pulpit and to the floor. And I’ll walk out of the service and somebody will walk up to me and say, “Pastor, thank you so much for sharing.”

I’m like, “What service were you in this morning?” But God still speaks to the exile. Second thing, the hand of the Lord came upon Ezekiel. The hand of the Lord came upon Ezekiel. God was and is in control of the situation. No matter where we find ourselves, folks, there’s a point where we simply have to just go ahead by faith and say, “I don’t feel God. I don’t sense Him. But I know that His power is still present. It may not be manifest in the way that I expect it to be manifest. But I know that God’s power is still present in me.” Henri Nouwen wrote a wonderful book. I don’t know whether you’ve read it. It’s called The Wounded Healer. Anybody read it? The concept is fantastic. He has a concept at the outset. Pardon me? Oh, I thought you were going to say it’s on the book table. But it is wonderful. It’s a tremendous book. He shares a couple of concepts in it. One, he talks about the nuclear man. That is a man that’s out of relationship. And our culture is developing very quickly. Nuclear people. Not nuclear explosion, but nuclear as in, I am a unit unto myself, an island unto myself, and I’m not relating to anybody. The computer age, the informational age, is rising all around us.

And people are becoming computer addicts. They call them hackers. And we have a situation. I’m trying to make contact with a man who is married to a lady in our church who is addicted to his computer. He doesn’t work. He hasn’t worked for a year and four months. And he, every day, wakes up, goes down to his computer, hacks away at his computer all day long, who lives in his basement, goes back upstairs to go to bed, goes downstairs to his computer. That’s all he does. That’s all that he’s done for a year and three or four months.

And he uses it to avoid any kind of relationship. And I believe that we will see in the church, and I’ve alluded to this already, but I believe that the 1990s and on into 2000 are the most exciting times, should the Lord tarry, that the church will ever see. Because we’re going to be seeing people who are absolutely starved for relationship.

And we are going to have ministry vistas opened up to us. I’m excited. People are in exile all over the place. The other concept that Henri Nouwen uses in this book, or brings forth, among several others, is the concept of the wounded healer. That is that… And Scripture talks about this. The comfort with which we are comforted will be able to comfort other people. If you’ve ever read that in Corinthians, Paul, you have to kind of dissect it and figure out what he’s talking about. Comfort. But when we’re comforted, we’re able to comfort other people. And we think about that often in terms of, well, after I get my act all together, you know, I used to be an alcoholic, and now that I’m dry for a year, I can help other alcoholics. I used to be a spouse abuser, but now that I’ve gotten out of that, I can help other spouse abusers. I used to have a lot of fear, but now the Lord has delivered me of that. I can help other people who have fear. The concept that Nouwen raises is, all of us are still in the process of being healed.

Unless… I may be wrong. Is there anybody here that’s all healed up? Okay, we’re all kind of in the same boat. This is so, so fun. I’m going to remind me, come back to Wounded Healer. I was… Well, I’ll just go ahead and share the whole story. For Father’s Day, my family got me, not a tie, but a shirt and a pair of pants.

And pants from Lori, shirt from Ashley, socks from Austin. And he picked out some great socks. And I stopped in, greedily, on my way out. And forgot my Father’s Day shirt in the motel room. It’s okay, I’ve already confessed it to my wife over the phone. But it’s not okay because I… It bothered me. It just bothered me. It would have been just a shirt. You know, this shirt, it’s no big deal. But it was a Father’s Day present.

So, I drove back into Greeley the other day. And because I called, and it was one of those things, you know, when it rains, it pours. On those of us that are in exile, I called in, and the directory assistants didn’t have their number. It was one of those things that, you know, you think, now, I was having trouble finding a room. Did God just put that motel there? And if He did, what angel is wearing my shirt?

I couldn’t… So, I knew it was a Best Western. So, I called up, and I knew it was on 8th Avenue. And I called up Best Western, 1-800 number, you know. And the fellow said, “We don’t have any record of that, any Best Western in Greeley.”

I thought, now, you know, maybe God did just set it there. So, I decided, I know where that’s at. I’m going to drive back in, and I’m going to get my shirt. And I drove all the way in, and no shirt.

I don’t know whether I’ll ever get my shirt back. Maybe some maid’s husband got a late Father’s Day present. Or some angel will deliver it. I don’t… But on the way back out here, I was so frustrated. I had taken the long route, and I was missing my prayer group, which just frustrated the daylight out of me. I didn’t get my shirt. If I would have gotten the shirt, it would have been a lot better. And I was driving, and tempted to speed, and trying not to.

And finally, I said, “God, I am so frustrated.” I thought, now, what would the people at camp think about me? And I said, “God, what do you want me to do? What do You want me to do?” And just silence.

And I was driving down the road, trying to be in a hurry, and a guy in a tractor pulls out with one of those big, wide discs, you know how they do, and they just kind of bounce in front of you.

And, you know, there was nobody else behind me, but he just, probably an angel, I don’t know. Yeah. Had wings, he had on a green shirt. And when that tractor pulled out in front of me, I said, “Okay, I give up. Whatever You want to do, just go ahead and do it.” And I still don’t know what He was doing, but I know that I was extremely frustrated, and I knew at that point that there are some things running around inside of me that need to pop out. And whether they’ll pop out this week or not, I don’t know, and God will do that in His timing, and I’ll just be wide open to it. We’ve been having some vulnerable sharing in our prayer group, and it’s been tremendous, and maybe some of that, and LaRoyce and I had a wonderful discussion last night, and maybe some of that is coming out. But I realized in the process of that that I am still wounded. I am not perfect. If your requirement is to have a perfect camp speaker, look someplace else next year. I’m staying for the rest of the week, but look someplace else next week, next year. Because next year is, should we pray again?

But the concept is that just because I’m not perfect, that makes me a healer. As a wounded person, I can be a healer. Not just when I get it all together and God finally delivers me of all my fear and all my imperfection and all my anxiety and all of my bitterness and all of my judgmentalness and all of my insanity, I don’t have to wait for that to happen. And I want to encourage you while you’re in the midst of exile. And all of us are, when we really boil it down, all of us are in exile. We’re all after the order of Abraham. We’re all wandering in a land that’s not our own, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. All of us are in exile. God, I long for that time when we don’t know what we’ll be like. But we know this, that when He appears, we shall be like Him because we see Him face to face. I long for that time. But in the meantime, folks, I can’t afford to waste my time waiting for time to get perfected.

In the midst of my exile, the hand of God can still come upon me. And in the midst of your exile, the hand of God can still come upon you. Oh, boy, that’s good news. I’m so glad because I don’t have to wait for you to get perfected before I get my healing either.

Those are good things, aren’t they? The third principle. First, you know, God speaks to the exile. Second, the hand of God is still on the exile. And third, don’t hang up your harp. The Israelites made a mistake. And when we understand the Old Testament, we need to understand that oftentimes the Old Testament is written to us in story form, not telling us exactly what’s right to do, but telling us what Israel did. The only thing that we can depend upon in the Old Testament is that God always does things right. Israel doesn’t. Moses didn’t. David didn’t. But God always did do what’s right. Israel blows it here because they hung up their harps. The Babylonians came in and they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion, why don’t you? Sing about the God who delivers you.” It’s kind of like in the old westerns. I don’t know whether growing up you watched westerns, but I loved a good western. And the good guy would always get caught without his guns or he’d be one of those types that just wouldn’t go to his guns until his life was in danger. You know, the hero type. And Bart, whatever, with the black hat would come in and he’d say to him, “Dance.” And then what did he do?

And it was a mockery about dancing. That’s what the Babylonians were doing to Israel. “Sing. Sing about the God who delivers you.” And Israel rose up and they said, “We are not going to sing. We’re not going to… We’re going to hang our harps up. We are in mourning. We’re separated from Jerusalem. We’re separated from God. We’re not going to sing.” There comes a time, folks, when we just have to go ahead and worship by faith. And somebody says, “Well, I’m not going to be a hypocrite. If I don’t feel like worshiping, I’m not going to worship.” No, that’s not it at all. We go back to that same thing we talked about, laying the forms. And go ahead and worship by faith and say, “God, I am going to sing until I’m hoarse just because I know that it’s the right thing to do.” I shared with some folks last night, we’ve had trouble with both of our kids when they were born. Ashley was in intensive care also several years ago. And I remember that exile kind of experience as I was, as I left both Ashley and Lori in the hospital and went home to an empty house and was driving back to the hospital. And we didn’t know the doctor had come in and said, “Well, we’re testing for several things.

“Several of them are incurable diseases.” Wonderful bedside manner. And I remember thinking, “God, I don’t know, I don’t understand any of this. Why did You bring this child into the world if all You’re going to do is take her back? I don’t get it. And I’m angry and I’m upset and I’m bothered.” And I sensed the Lord saying to me, “I want you to worship Me.”

And I was driving, I can remember specifically the road that I was on driving back to the hospital, it’s about a 20 minute drive. And I can remember thinking, “God, I am not in the mood to worship.” And that sense, you know, that sense that you have that you just know that you know that you know that you’re supposed to. Driving down the road and I was grabbing the steering wheel tighter and tighter. “God, I am not in the mood. I want an answer. Let’s not get sidetracked. You give me an answer and I’ll worship. Let’s get first things first here.” Still, that sense, “You need to worship Me.” I remember finally just saying, “God, whatever,” driving down the road and having to pull over to the side of the road as the tears just began to well up. I can remember singing, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let Thy glory be over all the earth.”

There was something that turned loose inside of me in the midst of the exile. It was almost like the evil one was there saying, “Go ahead and worship God. Just see what it does for you. Why don’t you go ahead and sing about the God who delivers you? Why don’t you go ahead and sing songs about healing? Where your little girl’s in intensive care. Big man of faith.

“God’s man of faith and power. You go back up to the hospital.” And in the midst of that taunting, all of a sudden, I guess you have to call it faith, but it wasn’t the kind of faith that says, “I know God’s going to heal her.” But it was that kind of faith that says, “I know that the hand of the Lord is still on the exile. And I’m not going to hang up my harp. Because I know in whom I have believed and I know that He is able to deliver me. And I know I can confess along with Job that I will come through this like gold. And I can confess with Job that I will see God. And no matter what happens, God, if You want to take her, she’s Yours. I’m going to worship You.” Don’t hang up your harp. Don’t hang up your harp.

There are times when we simply just have to go ahead and worship by faith. And even if it doesn’t come, to go ahead and do it anyway. Folks, that is not hypocrisy. That’s faith. And there comes a time when we just have to go ahead and say, “God, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m going to go ahead and do what I’m supposed to do.”

The last key for the exile is, when you don’t know what to do, do what you know to do. I tell my church this all the time. Somebody comes as a pastor, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I just lost my job. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” And it is, it’s really fun for me because the first line of counsel that I give them is, when you don’t know what to do, do what you know to do. What do you know to do?

What else do you know to do? And “I just don’t know what to do.” Yeah, we know what to do. We may not know what to do about that. But I am convinced that when we live in obedience to the written Word of God, the objective Word of God, when we live in obedience to the objective Word of God, that the subjective will of God will be revealed to us. We may not always know it. We may look back and look at God, see God’s providence as He led us through that time. But I am convinced that when we live in obedience to the objective Word of God, that we will know the subjective will of God. So when we don’t know what to do, go ahead and do what you know to do.

Doesn’t make sense when you first hear it, but it makes sense, doesn’t it? There’s a promise to the exile. We read it already. I read it the first time that I shared this week. Jeremiah 29: “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” If you’re in exile this morning, let me read that to you again.

Now, as I read this, I want you to understand something. God is omniscient. That means He knows everything. God’s not limited by time. So when God inspired Jeremiah to pen these words, or the scribes that were around him, or whatever, to pen these words, God had you in mind. And He had me in mind. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?

So for you this morning, if you find yourself in exile, listen to this. “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.

“And I will restore your fortunes. And I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I’ve driven you,” declares the Lord. “And I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.” So maybe you’re here this morning and you think, “You know, I have gone too far.”

But God is there. God’s with the exile. Maybe you think, “It’s been too long.” But God is more patient than you can imagine. Maybe you think, “I don’t know whether I’ll ever hear His voice again.” But God is speaking.

Sometimes the closer we get to God, the more quietly He speaks. I remember as a brand new convert, my quiet time was kind of a misnomer. I had loud times. I just didn’t, I had not developed the ability to be quiet. And I was 14. That may have had something to do with it. But I remember God speaking to me. I would take, I had a little stereo set and didn’t have headphones. Drove my family crazy, I’m sure. But I’d take Christian music and just crank it. And set the speakers right down on either side of my head and lay down and just enjoy the presence of the Lord.

And God spoke to me during those, you guys are nodding your head. Yeah, God spoke to me during those times. Now that doesn’t work for me anymore. It just gives me a headache. But it’s old age. I think as we grow in the Lord, He speaks more quietly.

And I really do believe this, that God’s plan for us is to walk with Him in such a way that we would no longer need to hear, you know, “Do this, don’t do that. This is what you need to do.” But that we would just be walking so in step with Him, as the psalmist said, like hinds’ feet in high places. That we’d just be tracking with Him. And we’d be doing exactly what Jesus said: “I just do what I see My Father doing.” That He would be, not even speaking to us, but our spirits would be so in communion with Him that we’d just follow Him. And we wouldn’t be finding ourselves in every situation saying, “Well, now what would Jesus do here?” But we’d just be doing it. Maybe you find yourself in exile this morning.

God still speaks to the exile. God’s hand is still on the exile. Don’t hang up your harp. Continue to worship Him. And when you don’t know what to do, go ahead and do what you know to do. Let me close with Psalm 37.

Do not fret because of evildoers. Be not envious toward wrongdoers. Israel, don’t fret about Babylon. For they will wither quickly like the grass. You know any Jews? You know any Babylonians? For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. You know, there’s a place where God tells the exiles, go ahead and build houses and plant gardens and raise families in exile.

I believe that’s a word from the Lord for us today. Go ahead and just live there. Let people see My light shining through you. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him and He will do it. And here it is. And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Glory to God. Would you stand with me? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I’m getting blessed. I don’t know about you. If you’re in exile and not getting blessed, don’t sweat it. Just… But I’m getting blessed. I’m gushing. -oh. -oh. I can’t do that. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Let’s worship Him. Lord, we thank You so much. Oh God. God, bring us to the place where we would actually thank You for being in exile. That we would hear that word from You. Lord, as we look through the Old Testament we see Israel in exile so much. And so many of the scriptures that are nearest and dearest to our hearts come out of the exile. Come out of the prophets in the midst of the exile. Lord, let us exult in exile as well as in Your presence.

When we sense Your presence and we sense that overflowing and being under the spout where the glory comes out and all of those things, let us even in the midst of exile enjoy ourselves to that extent, knowing that You will bring forth our righteousness as the noonday.

God, help us not to worry about evildoers. Help us not to worry about those situations that stand before us because we know that they’ll take the same course as Babylon. Help us to trust in You and do good. Help us to dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Jesus, we thank You that whether we sense Your presence or whether we don’t, that You still speak to the exile and Your hand is still upon the exile. Help us to trust You. Jesus, I love You.