July 29, 2007
Background Scripture: Jeremiah 28:1-14
Devotional Reading: Psalms 145:13b-21

At last, in 587 B.C., the people of Judah experienced the tribulation of which Jeremiah had warned them – the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and carried the cream of its population into captivity.

Only a puppet government and a much-reduced population were left in Jerusalem. The rest were taken to Babylon (today’s Iraq).
Jeremiah’s efforts had earned him only rabid hostility and imprisonment. And now that the Babylonians were victorious, he may have assumed that his ministry of prophecy was over. But God wasn’t finished with him.

Some self-proclaimed prophets among the exiles in Babylon were persuading them that they would soon be returning to Jerusalem. It is in this context that Jeremiah sends them his letter (Jer. 29) – and what a message.

Never assume that being a prophet for God is enjoyable: It usually involves telling people something they don’t want to hear. That is especially true of the letter Jeremiah wrote, beginning with: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon …”  (29:4).

It was God who sent them into exile. So it was not a chance happening, nor even simply the arrogance of the Babylonians, but the result of failing to heed the prophetic warnings. They were suffering the consequences they brought upon themselves.

The long haul

Nor were they likely to have been pleased with the next pronouncement: “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage … multiply there and do not decrease” (29:4-7).

In other words, accept your plight and settle in for the long haul, making the most of it. As best you can, turn your lemons into lemonade.

The world doesn’t play by our rules and we should never expect that it will. Unfortunately, some of us never learn to make the best of what life brings us. I like the analogy of playing not with the hand you wanted, but the cards you actually hold in your hand. What God does give us is always much better than most of us ever realize.

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (29:7). Our welfare is tied to that of others. Improve the community and we all benefit.

Everyone benefits when we provide better education, raise the threshold of opportunity, provide therapy for the emotionally ill and rehabilitate criminals rather than just incarcerating them. Even childless couples benefit in paying school taxes. If we do a better job of educating, healing and reforming people, all of us benefit with less crime, better and safer communities and stronger economies.

A future, a hope

God also promises that He has a plan and within 70 years, the exiles can return. “For I know the plans I have for you … plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (29:11).
Exile does not have to be geographical. We may be in exile when we cannot get the kind of job we prepared for. Alienation from family members, marital separation and divorce – all are exile experiences. But even in exile, God has a plan for us.

Finally, although they are separated from their homeland, they need not be separated from Him. Even in Babylon they can find God: “Then you will call upon me … and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you ... and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile” (29:12-14).

I’m not saying that God will bring us back to the home we left, or reunite us with our divorced spouse. Rather, the most important thing in our lives will be restored – our relationship with the Lord. We don’t have to wait 70 years for that. We can have it now: “When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you.”