Unpacking

Last week's lesson from Habakkuk told us that God does things that are beyond our ability to understand (even if God told us what he was doing).  He was both sending the people of Judah into exile and promising them a return some years down the road (in God's perfect timing).  In Jeremiah and Ezekiel God gets more specific (giving them the time frame of 70 years of exile in Babylon).  Immersed in the predictions of things the people do not want and the surety that God will (and did) do what He says, there is a beautiful theme of redemption, newness and hope.  There is the advice to unpack your stuff and be a blessing where you are planted (lot's of agricultural terminology here).
I want to spend a moment on this idea of unpacking.  What great and perfect advice for a people in spiritual, physical, emotional, political and economic turmoil!  We should be able to identify with this theme!
Unpack!  Sounds simple, but what is God saying?  He is saying that while the nation is here temporarily (in Babylon) they should plant gardens, build houses, have children and become productive/functional in the place they are living.  He is also saying that unpacking means you are setting up a life in a place where you become witnesses of the God you worship.  This God can prosper His people in captivity.  this God can cause His people to become a blessing of prosperity to their captor nation.  These people are of a different sort and of different character, having hearts devoted to their God.
And why not?  Joseph was a blessing where he was a servant and captive.  Israel was a blessing to Egypt giving them livestock, grain and free labor.  We (as Christians) are also to be that kind of blessing.  Work as though you are working for the Lord [1 Cor. 15] (because you are in your witness).  Do your work with excellence.  Make your employer, family and country prosperous, not for your own gain but as a witness to your God.  Set your minds on the excellent things above and allow this to permeate your lives daily [Col. 3]. Unpack and leave behind the burdens, grudges, worries and drudgery of the pagans, for you are meant for better things.  Live, for the Lord is your life [Deut. 30]!  And watch your blessings multiply from a God who overcomes all obstacles, including death!  Unpack ... love ... live ... grow ... become ... witness ... worship!
Thanks for listening!  Pastor Randy