Jeremiah 29:1-23 HIS Plans
Jeremiah sends a letter with God’s words, outlining HIS plans for their future. ‘Get comfortable because it’s going to be a while before I bring you back; 70 years.’
Even in Babylon where the captives have been taken, there are still prophets claiming to be speaking for God and telling the people that this won’t last. ‘God will save us!’ That is NOT what God has said. Jeremiah reaches out to the people in exile to correct this misconception; outright lie.
“Build houses”, “plant gardens”, get married, raise a family, find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage. NONE of these things are short term activities. God’s plan includes leaving the exiles in Babylon long enough to do these things. Seventy years long. This is NOT a short stay. This is GOD’S plan, NOT mans.
I have no doubt that the people who were taken wanted to return home. Jeremiah told them that if they wanted to live, they had to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar when he came to Jerusalem. I don’t know how many of the exiles actually voluntarily surrendered, how many didn’t put up much resistance, and how many were taken by force. Whichever way they got to Babylon; their fate was the same. They were safely away from the downfall of Jerusalem. And before Jerusalem falls there is a GREAT DEAL of disaster to come.
Those in Jerusalem have also been warned by Jeremiah as to what is to come. And they are holding fast to their false prophets too. God calls out the two loudest prophets in Babylon and tells the people that they will be silenced! They are going to receive their just reward for speaking falsely in God’s name. We saw Hananiah receive his ‘reward’ in Jerusalem. Ahab and Zedekiah will prove to the people how wrong they are by fulfilling the prophecy Jeremiah sends in this letter. Their fates will be so revealing that their names will become a curse to future generations.
But the most exciting part of Jeremiah’s letter is God’s promise right in the middle of it! “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. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I WILL hear you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. I WILL be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord and I WILL bring you back to this place from which I sent you into exile” (verses 10b-14).
God DOES NOT forget His people, even when they are in the throes of their ‘lessons’. He has already made a plan of what comes next once the current lesson is over. He KNOWS the growth that will come and exactly how to put it to good use for future growth too.
This is as true now as it was in the days of Jeremiah! God know EXACTLY what it will take to bring us to the place where we can grow. He knows what lessons are ahead for us and what those lessons will bring out in us. And He has a WONDERFUL road ahead of us because we submitted to the lessons. Those who resisted this lesson were still in Jerusalem and death awaited them. When we refuse our ‘lessons’ we too face danger. And we face a broken relationship with God. NOT a forfeited salvation but a stilted and sluggish relationship. One clogged with rebellion. REMOVE IT and the relationship will flow freely again. THAT is the place where He calls us to be. The place He prepared for us to walk.
Father God, help me keep our relationship fresh and open. I want to learn from You every day. I want to go to and through the lessons You have in store for me. I know they won’t all be pleasant, but with You by my side, they are perfect for me. And on the other side of them, there is even greater joy! Let me not listen to ANY false prophets. Make their lies easy to spot and the proof of their falsehood as clear as Ahab and Zecheriah’s.
