A letter to the Exiles

Word Reading:

4 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5 “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. 6 Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

8 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, 9 because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the Lord.

10 This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

Opening Prayer:

Dear God, thank you for this day, for this new opportunity to know you better, thank you for your Word, please prepare our hearts and minds to receive your message, in the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Context

This is a God-inspired letter to Jeremiah to be delivered to God's people who had been held captive in Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. It is important to remember that God's people had been rebelling against God and consequently God allowed them to be made captive in Babylon, Scripture Scripture tells us that the people of God had not believed the message of God that Jeremiah had given them.

Jeremiah warned the people what God would allow; but they ignored it. When the time came, the king and the leaders wanted to repent, but Jeremiah told them it was too late for that.

This leads us to understand that by the time Jeremiah wrote the letter of today's devotional verses, there were many Jews who were dissatisfied with their new situation and wanted to return to their former lives. Everything had changed for them, nothing was the same as when they lived in Jerusalem.

Now they were governed by new rules, different traditions. For many this was something very difficult to accept and they had no joy with their new lifestyle.

It is in this context that this message from God for His people is written. The first verses of this passage say:

5 “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. 6 Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

Maybe we can paraphrase this message as follows:

Settle in this city, build your own houses as you like, plant the gardens you like; get marry, not that you seek to marry the people of Babylon, no; they sought to marry within the people of God. Multiply, produce more people who know the One and True God. Believe in me and in my Word; help others to believe in me and in my Word.

Focus on the prosperity of those who do not know me, because your prosperity depends on this. Why? Because this will lead us to love others as ourselves. And we can do this because we are loving God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind.

The message continues:

8 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, 9 because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the Lord.

God warns us to be careful of being deceived by people posing as His servants, who tell lies and have not been sent by Him. What kinds of messages could these people be saying to God's people? It is very possible that they were being pessimistic messages, messages of condemnation; the types of hopeless messages, the ones that destroy the joy in our hearts.

So that is why, God said the following to His people:

“You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

First:

God told His people that they will be living in Babylon for so many years.

Second, and this is the first verse that impact my life when I started to hear the Word of God and attempt to a christian church:

God know the plans He has for us, and he explain to us that those plans are for good and not for disaster, no matter the circumstances, God’s plans for us will bring us a future and hope.

It is in the difficult circumstances that we face when we seek God the most; and when we seek God in prayer, He listens to us and is pleased with our dependence on Him.

If we seek God with all our hearts we will find him. His Word tells us that he will not reject a contrite and humbled heart (Psalm 51:17)

God says that He will let us find him and His promises to us is that, in His perfect time, He will end our captivity and restore our fortunes, we will be gather together, He will bring us back home to our land again.

God’s Word says in James 1:2-4

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

How do we apply these truths to our lives?

Remembering that God is the ruler of all kind of circumstances we can face.

It is so important to find joy in the Lord today, no matter what. If we are complaining about the time we are living, we must repent and look for joy in God, in His Word, with the help of wise people who love God and love us.

3. This time of COVID captivity is a time of opportunity to grow in the Lord and help others to know God and to recognize Christ as His Lord and Savior.

4. It is true, we miss to be having classes as we used to at MCCA facilities, but what we are living is part of the good plans that God has for us. So will be great to rejoice in this time and all this new type of teaching, working and living, in the perfect time of God, all this will pass, all this has an ending date, God’s times, not ours.

Easier said than lived, that's why we have Him, we have His Spirit, we have His Word and we have each other to encourage and pray for each other. God never said will be easy, but with Him nothing is impossible.

5. Remembering God’s plans and promises for us will bring us Hope always. So no matter what the news say, no matter what others say about the COVID time we are living, what God says matters more to us, and this changes everything.

Ending Prayer:

Father we praise you for who you are, the Mighty God, we praise you for your Love and Mercy for us, thank you for making us your children in Christ, may your Holy Spirit help us to remind that you have a good plans for us, help us to find joy in you every day, no matter the circumstances, our Hope is in you, un your Word and in your promises, in the name of Jesus we pray, amen.