Stay in Babylon

From the Salvation Army, you're listening to Wonderful Words of Life. Welcome back to Wonderful Words of Life. I am Bernie Dake and with me is our new host, Major Cheryl Gillum. Hey, nice to be with you all today again. So we've been talking about revisiting mental health and I'm just wondering, Bernie, can you remember a time that you've made a rash decision while in the middle of a valley or a very stressful time when you were upset about something? Yes, I can. And unfortunately, I think when I get emotional, I either eat or I just get so upset and then I'm afraid to share it with people because I'm kind of a big guy and it can be intimidating and I don't mean to be that way.

I really am a lover. But I can think of a situation where people, where someone had come up to me so angry about a situation that was first not my fault and nor my responsibility, but they felt impassioned enough to come to me and just let me have it in an angry way and then walked away. And I didn't have a chance to respond. I looked at the people that were around us and said, what just happened? And then just started making ultimatums. I want my boss here. I want that guy fired.

I want this and that. And that didn't help the situation. Fortunately, someone with a level head came to me and said, take a deep breath. Don't make ultimatums.

People may take you up on that. And thirdly, let's, let's kind of get to the root of this and then we'll go to him and, and solve this in a Christ-like manner. So in these situations, we really need to learn not to, or to live above our feelings and not in our feelings. We need to ask God for wisdom, right? So that we can kind of navigate these situations.

I mean, all of us have feelings that rise up and we just want to lash out or we want to, we want to react and not respond. Right. And so, so yeah, we need to ask God for wisdom in those situations.

And try to get his perspective. Right. Absolutely. Right.

Right. Well, this week, as we continue our series with the Argots, we're going to study a moment in the book of Jeremiah, where the Lord tells his people to settle down and be patient. Sometimes trusting the plans God has for you is really difficult, especially on a bad day. It can lead us to question and possibly make a rash decision to fix the situation on our own or even run away.

Yeah. You know, I mean, I can definitely relate to all this. I mean, like I said, every one of us deal with the fact that things come at us, you know, in the, in the, in our everyday lives that we want to react to. And for me, I just, I really have asked the Lord to just help me to respond in an appropriate way. Again, not living in my feelings, but respond with wisdom and, and to kind of be able to step back.

That takes intention though. You know, that's not something that all of us are wired like that. We're, a lot of us are just, you know, trigger happy. We want to just kind of respond or react to things. So I think it's really important that we just kind of ask God to help us to step back and to respond. Absolutely.

I think too, running away doesn't solve the problem because it's not resolved. That's right. That's right.

Cheryl is from upstate New York originally. I'll introduce you just a little bit over the episodes, but in the United States, we would be referred to as Yankees. And there's this thought that Yankees are like these really gruff people that just speak their minds. And I don't think that's necessarily true.

Of course, everywhere there's different types of people. We all handle things differently, but I, I'm certain what we won't do is back down from a problem. We try to address the issue and get to it. I know that's you, you know, I don't want to speak out of turn. What I'm saying is neither of us enjoy confrontation, but we won't back down from it either. Absolutely. Because, because at the, at the end of the day, I want right relationship. Right. So it's not about being confrontational in an ugly way.

And by the way, I think Yankees maybe sometimes are a little aggressive because the cold weather, quite frankly, I mean, we're all, you know, that makes you up tight. But the truth of the matter is, is that in my own life, and I'm sure for you as well, Bernie, that we just want to, you know, we want right relationship with people. We want to make sure that we're living in such a way that promotes godly kingdom relationships. And you know, you're not always dealing with people on the other side that are in that position as well, or have that as their aim or their goal in life. But truly, we can only be responsible for ourselves.

That's right. Well, listen, we want you to hear this. If you are at a crossroad in your own life, I hope this message will be a blessing to you. Sometimes the best action is to just be still and know that He is God.

In uncertain times, you can be certain of this. The Salvation Army is serving those most in need with help and hope. Thanks to your donations, the Salvation Army is helping those affected by COVID-19. Those who've lost wages, who have no home to retreat to, who need food, help with utilities, and most of all, hope.

To see how you can continue to make a difference, visit SalvationArmyUSA.org. I love Psalm 137, and it's not often read, but it says, By the rivers of Babylon we sat and we wept. When we remembered Zion, there on the poplars we hung up our harps, for our captors asked for us to sing songs and our tormentors demanded songs of joy. They said, sing us those songs of Zion again, won't you?

But how can we sing praise to the Lord while in a foreign land? I think about this all the time, about what exile meant to the Israelites, to the Jews, that they lost everything, that even their temple, the place where God dwelt, was destroyed. And I can imagine the depression that probably felt like it was overwhelming them.

Yeah. I can't imagine losing everything. I don't know that I've... Well, yeah, I have lost something very dear to me. When my daddy died, that was huge. That was a huge loss for me, because along with you, daddy was represented a pillar of strength for me in my life. He was my go-to, and he himself dealt with mental illness.

Daddy was a World War II vet, and four years after he came home from the war, he married within that four years, had two daughters, 24 months apart, and his wife was tragically burned to death. So yeah, I lost a deep sense when he died. And it's interesting because our parents' generation, mental health was not talked about. We don't think that mental health is talked about now, but when it was them.

And some of us don't even understand the genetic disposition towards depression and bipolar and even schizophrenia and all those types of things, because it was hidden from us, those secrets of our family that we didn't know about. I often think about how eventually the Jews will return to Jerusalem, and there's the story of Job, and where everything is taken away from Job. I can't imagine not only losing your father, but losing your kids and your wife. That's got to be very visceral, and how over the course of 40 chapters, he has these guys who come by him and basically say, you must have done something wrong, or you don't have enough faith.

Yes, agreed. And I almost wish that Job didn't end the way it did. Now we know the last chapter, he's restored like double fold of everything. But I often think about Habakkuk, the prophet, and in chapter three, the last chapter of that book, and he sees the coming destruction of Jerusalem. And in that final chapter, after crying out to God, where are you?

What are you going to do about this? He realizes that this is coming and nothing's going to stop it, and God is not going to intervene. And those final words of saying, if the vineyards are empty, if there's no sheep in the pen, if everything goes against me, yet I will serve you, Lord.

He still took his eyes and looked up to the Lord and said, I will receive my strength from you, because there was nothing left for strength for him in the world on the earth. Yes, circumstances cannot dictate our decisions, can they? No. And you and I always have this funny saying, right?

Yes. In the months of January through March, we do not make any life-changing decisions. One because of seasonal affect disorder plays into it. And then also, we've just come off of a very busy time in our professional ministry and of Christmas. And so we are dog-tired, if I can say that.

So our minds aren't as keen as they should be because of the physical tiredness. So yeah, we don't make any life decisions. And I think you'll never make life decisions when you're in a valley, because the grass does look greener at that time, and you're thinking that everything's going to be better. In fact, while the people are in exile in Babylon, there's a prophet called Hananiah who tells all the people, hey, we need to rise up. We need to release the chains of bondage.

We need to be free. We need to rewrite this justice and go back to Jerusalem and rebuild. And the prophet Jeremiah says, no, no.

In fact, God wants you to settle here amidst these foreigners, build houses, build vineyards, marry, pray actually for peace in this city that is your enemy, and do well here because the way you live your life in the valley is going to be seen in front of your captors. That whole verse that we always cling to of Jeremiah 29, 11 is after Jeremiah has said, stay put, for I know the plans I have for you, not to destroy you, but to give you a future of hope. That future of hope is not today and it's not tomorrow. It might not be next year.

It might not even be five years from now. In fact, for the Israelites, it's a course of 40 years. If somebody else can see Jesus in the midst of trial and temptation, that's what Paul was all about.

And how we respond and react, though our circumstance doesn't change, it's about our response and our reaction. That's what the world sees when we are in that valley. So next week is actually Palm Sunday and it's always like a celebratory thing, right? And you may know that the first thing that Jesus does after coming into Jerusalem on a donkey is he goes to the temple and drives the money changers out. Jesus was angry. So this idea, you know, we celebrate Palm Sunday, but as we come into this holy week, we realize that that Jesus himself is filled with a lot of emotions that we can really resonate with.

Our savior actually went through this difficulty and we're going to talk about that next week. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support.

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