EXPLORE IT - Jeremiah 29

Have you ever felt like God has placed you somewhere you didn’t want to be?  Maybe you are in a job you don’t like or maybe you’re going through a season of unemployment and it’s a struggle.  Maybe you feel like you are in the desert and you haven’t heard from God in a long time and you thirst for an oasis of His Word.  Our passage, Jeremiah 29, is just that. 

Jeremiah 29 shares with us the contents of a letter the Prophet Jeremiah wrote to the Israelites who are in exile.  The main message of Jeremiah’s letter?  “Bloom where you are planted.”  The Israelites had lost their homes and had been taken to a strange land with strange customs.  Many of them had put their lives on hold, waiting for things to get better.  They were waiting to get married, have children, build houses, basically they were sitting around twiddling their thumbs until…  Maybe you can relate.

Jeremiah’s letter came and told the exiles to stop wasting time.  The Israelites were right where God wanted them and they needed to be obedient and keep living life.  They needed to settle down and become productive members of this new society they were in instead of pouting like toddlers.  There is also a warning to not be swayed by the religion of this new culture.  Even though they may sound like prophets of Yahweh God, He did not send them!  They are also encouraged to pray for Babylon, the city of their exile, that it would prosper.

Jeremiah’s letter is not only instructive, telling the exiles to get a move on, but it is also encouraging.  The letter reminds them of God’s promise to bring them home from Babylon after seventy years.  Then Jeremiah’s letter includes one of the best known passages in Scripture, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11).  Even in the midst of exile, the Israelites had God’s promises on their side.

We too are called to “keep on keeping on” in the midst of trial and struggle.  As long as you are seeking God and following after Him, you are right where He wants you to be.  God doesn’t want you to stop living until…  He wants you to “bloom where you are planted!”  Make friends, get involved, buy a house, get married, have children – whatever you’ve been putting on hold, get to it!  God knows you are struggling and He is with you.  The cool thing?  He knows what’s coming next!  He knows His plans for you and they are to prosper you, not to harm you.  I can only imagine God in Heaven getting excited for you - for what’s about to happen right around the corner!

I'm praying for you and for your approaching corner!!

Blessings,
Pastor Amy