How Do I Follow God in a Place Like This?
It was summer 1994. I sat with Billy, a new inmate at Leavenworth Penitentiary, in the quiet chapel of the famous military prison. He was a “fresh one.” I can remember that the only sound I could hear in that moment was an air conditioner churning out cold air on that hot Kansas day. Billy was a young enlisted man in the Navy but was now wearing the unmistakable dungaree uniform that told the world he was an inmate. I spoke to him as his head was hanging low.
“Why are you here, son?” I asked.
“Well, I needed money. We were in the midst of an adoption. The baby was soon to come. Now I won’t see her . . . ” He began to sob.
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“Go on, Billy.”
“We needed money. I was — am — in debt. I passed a BMW and somehow my eyes were drawn to look inside. I would have never done that before, but this time I did. I wish I had never . . . ”
“Go on, Bill . . . ” I prodded.
“Well, there was a wallet on the seat. I have no idea why, but all of a sudden I got this rush all through my body and I just took a rock and I broke the window and I got the wallet and ran. Would you believe it?” He smiled, and I could tell that he was trying to add some evasive humor. “Would you believe it? I broke into the commander’s car.”
We talked about the process Billy went through and how he got from that moment to Leavenworth. “The question now is: what will I do with my life? You see, Chaplain, I want to follow the Lord. But how do I follow Him in a place like this?”
That last question — How do I follow the Lord in a place like this? — is a question on many minds. We are not in Leavenworth, but all of us are in a similar place.
We are in a dry and thirsty land where to stand up for Christ risks alienation from people at work and school. That place has a name.
I know of husbands and wives and even children who must live out their faith in Christ in homes where there is either disdain or disregard from the things of God. That place has a name.
I know of students in universities who must stand their ground in a trial pitting their faith in Jesus Christ against atheistic professors who see themselves as bastions of enlightenment obligated to liberate these poor young people from the chains of religion. Their answer to his essay question will determine their final grade. That place has a name.
I know of people who have been faithful to God and are now facing life and death illnesses, and the urge to join Job’s wife and curse God and die is all too real. That place has a name.
What is that name? The place of exile, the place of loneliness, the place of testing is a place called Babylon. Babylon was the place of captivity for God’s people, including a young man named Daniel. After warnings of coming judgment, God used the powerful armies of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to attack Jerusalem. About 100 years after the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria, the powerful and ruthless army of the Chaldeans under mighty King Nebuchadnezzar assaulted Jerusalem in 605 b.c. and again in 597 b.c. when King Jehoiakim was taken into captivity. Finally, after an insurrection, Nebuchadnezzar’s army not only crushed the rebellion but also completely destroyed the city of David.