Click above to watch video.
OR
Click below to play audio and read along.
Good weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends.
Think back with me, to all the places where you’ve lived. How did those places BENEFIT from you living there, attending school there or working there or retiring there? Is it a fair expectation for God to have of His people that the PLACES where He plants us to live will be blessed by our presence there? This weekend let’s continue reading a very important letter the prophet Jeremiah wrote to thousands of Jewish captives living in exile in Babylon about 2600 years ago.
Like most refugees, these Jewish captives were angry to have been hauled away from their homeland Jerusalem, even though, if they were honest with themselves, they must admit God had warned them and they had rejected God’s warning, thus they were living God’s judgment. Yesterday we looked at Jeremiah 29:4-6. God’s message was “Build houses and settle down…marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughter in marriage…”
What a remarkable Valentine’s Day message for exiles! Now today let’s watch as Jeremiah picks up his stylus and continues writing the next part of this message from God to exiles in captivity: “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers you too will prosper.” (Jer. 29:7)
Wait a minute! Honestly now, does that statement from God to Jewish captives almost take your breath away? Do you hear God once again confirming the hard to believe reality that HE, the God of Israel, actually led these more than 10,000 Jewish people into captivity in Babylon!!
Don’t be too quick, my friends, to hold the dark kingdom responsible for your difficult or painful situations! God may be working His much bigger plan by allowing those painful situations in your life. Isn’t that what James and Paul both wrote about? (James 1:2-6 & Romans 5:3,4)
About 100 years before Jeremiah, the prophet Isaiah had been given a similar message from God for His people: “…they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” (Is. 61:3,4)
Do you see the similarity in God’s messages to His people through both Isaiah and Jeremiah, 100 years apart? Here’s an important question my friends: Is God saying the very same thing to you and me today and ALL God’s people in every city or town in the world, regardless of the politics or economics or social instability of their part of the world?
Do you see God wants His people to be ‘difference makers’ no matter our situation? Is that true in every generation, every place? YES, absolutely YES!
Now ponder that deeply for a moment friends. The normal human attitude would be to expect the government or the wealthy people or foreign aid from wealthy nations to clean up the mess or improve bad situations or make the future better than the past or rescue us from hardship or despair.
But throughout the Bible, throughout history, Almighty God makes it very clear that HE is prepared to empower and resource His people to be agents of helpful change and make a positive difference in EVERY PLACE, every situation in our world!
I imagine Jeremiah may have scowled as he wrote this letter, assuming the Jewish captives in Babylon might revolt and turn even angrier toward God as they read this message. But Jeremiah was not deterred, he had learned how important it was to write exactly the message he received from God regardless of his personal opinion about that message!
So, he kept writing: “Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you… They are prophesying lies to you in My name. I have not sent them’ declares the LORD.” (Jer. 29:8,9)
Then as now there were spiritual leaders seeking to make names for themselves by proclaiming messages which they had contrived in their minds, ‘feel good’ messages they knew the people would like to hear. And these false teachers claim their messages are from God when in fact they are ‘people pleasers’ not authentic spokesmen of God! Do you know any situations like that today?
Do you remember Paul wrote a warning to Timothy about that? “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry…” (2 Tim.4:2-5)
So, Jeremiah was bringing a challenging message to his fellow Jewish captives. Rather than complaining about their situation or begging God to rescue them and return them home to Jerusalem, Jeremiah’s message was that God’s larger purpose INCLUDED their captivity AND their working hard to establish lives in exile that would actually benefit and be a blessing to their captors in the kingdom of Babylon! God cared about the idol worshiping Babylonians and wanted them to see in the Jewish captives the power of confidence that their God, the God of Israel, was Sovereign and was with them even in captivity.
We need to pause right here and consider what the people who know us are watching us live our lives are concluding about the God we worship, especially when we face difficult, challenging situations?
Read again Jeremiah 29:4-9 and ask yourself WHO the voices are that you are listening to and how your life is affecting your neighborhood; how your family is affecting the places where they live?
And this song will help us reflect as we ask God to show us what HE wants our life impact to BE wherever we live, whatever the circumstances, no matter how painful. And I’ll see you right back here tomorrow:
Today’s Scripture: Jeremiah 29:7-9.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.