Jeremiah 29:4-10
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 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, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 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. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
Tag: Grow Wherever You are Planted
The above passage is a prophesy of Jeremiah that was sent in a letter to those who were first taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Despite their captivity, Jeremiah is telling them to invest into their lives where they are planted. Despite the fact they were being chastened, Jeremiah is telling them to accept the discipline and grow. They are in a very wicked country, in Babylon. It would be easy to hear the prophet tell them to hunker down and keep their heads down; or, seek to survive and fight tooth and nail against the establishment. Jeremiah is the only prophet who is telling them to go willingly into captivity. Now he is telling them to embrace, enjoy and invest in the place they are being tormented. This goes completely contrary to what our nature says to do. We typically fight and grumble and complain and struggle in captivity. We see it as punishment (we either deserve or believe we don’t deserve). Yet, in the midst of this dark time of Israel’s history (Jeremiah will soon tell them it is going to be 70 years of dark time), they are told to invest and embrace. In our struggling times in life, whether due to our own sin or the sin of another, we seldom want to embrace the darkness of struggle. But, the prophet wants Jeremiah to know that God has them in a place He wants them and will be with them in the struggle of a foreign land. When we embrace where God has us and accept that God has allowed us to be where we are, we can then (and only then) grow where we are planted.
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