Friday, December 27, 2024
This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Find wives for yourselves and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.” Jeremiah 29:4-7
Exiled - Now What?
Jeremiah was a prophet that was sent by God to warn the Jewish people that, because of their unrepentant sin, their God had turned against them, and He would deliver them into the hands of a pagan king. They would be exiled to Babylon because of their idolatrous behavior and sinful alliances. Jeremiah had been there preaching to them for 40 years and the people still were hardened against God and the warnings that Jeremiah had been sent to deliver. They were to be held in captivity in Babylon for 70 years. God promised them that in 70 years he would fulfill his promise to them to bring them back home.
When we are in a season of suffering a minute can feel like an eternity. For the people of Israel, the news of 70 years in captivity must have been overwhelming. They must have been drowning in thoughts of “What do we do now?” Jeremiah gave them instructions from God for exactly what he expected them to do in captivity, and it probably surprised them.
“Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Find wives for yourselves and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”
The sentence of captivity seems like they would have no freedom to live normal lives, make choices about their lives, or thrive at all. The very word captivity seems to imply a hold of all things, where growth and freedoms would be stunted but that is not what Jeremiah told them. He said that God desired for them to thrive in their season of captivity. He told them to build houses and live. He told them to plant gardens and live off their bounty. He told them to marry and have children – to increase and not decrease. He wanted them to multiply in Babylon, just as they had in Egypt. Exile didn’t mean that God forgot about them or wanted to destroy them. He wanted them to not only thrive, but to help Babylon thrive and to be a blessing to the Babylonians. God exiled them and expected them to be a blessing in their exile – and to pray for the Babylonians as well.
Blessing the Babylonians was most likely not on the Israelites minds. Some of them knew they would die before they would ever get out of captivity. Some of them had plans for their future that were gone now. How hard would it be to face the truth of their circumstances, trust God and start thriving and blessing in captivity? But – how many lives were changed and how many blessings did they experience? Even in captivity.
I find this passage so interesting, and so comforting at the same time. No matter where we are or what season we are in, the message is the same for us as well. God expects us to keep our eyes on him and to thrive and bless others. Some seasons are much more difficult than others, but he promises to always be with us and to never leave or forsake us. Pastor Jim told us last Sunday that when we don’t know what to do, we need to stop seeking answers and seek God. We want to know everything, especially what is coming. We want to be in control and fix things too. The Israelites could not fix what they had done and so they paid a price. We too will always pay a price when we stop seeking him and look for answers on our own or something/someone else to fulfill our emptiness.
Even in the “captivity” of our circumstances or the exile of our bad decisions, we can heal and thrive again – even before our circumstances change. God was with the Israelites in their captivity, and he is with us in captivity, in exile, in our consequences, in every circumstance of life. This not only creates peace for us, but we are living and loving like Jesus in any and every way. He expects us to keep going, so that no matter what, we always seek him and bless others.
Ann Voskamp reminds us, “It’s only by amazing grace you are born where you are — to be abundant, amazing grace for someone born somewhere else. That’s the point.”
