Jeremiah 29

August 18, 2022

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Reading along with us in Jeremiah? Here’s today’s reading:

Jeremiah 29 (NIV)

A Letter to the Exiles
1 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2(This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:............Continue Reading

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Often we find ourselves in places we didn’t expect, plan for, or even desire to be….both good and bad. However God always has a plan if we trust. Telling the people to “put down roots” so to speak maybe doesn’t make sense to them as they are captives where they are but as children of God we are all just in a temporary home until we are in Heaven with Him for eternity and so we are to make the best of every situation, shine our light even in the dark, and bring glory to god in all situations.

    11For 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.

    God always knows the whole story and reminds us like He reminded His people in the letter in this chapter that there is always hope in Him! He will never leave. Yes he may need to correct us and times may become difficult or not what our earthly eyes would look at as comfortable but it is all temporary so we trust and move forward with Christ by our side.

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  2. What a privilege we have to be directed by God in our daily lives. We have general principles to live by in the kind of people we are to be as well as guidance through God’s Word and Spirit in relation to the course of our lives. And as we need wisdom, the Bible says to ask and God will provide it. Here, through Jeremiah, God provides that same kind of direction to His people in exile. How important for them to realize that God still has a will for them even in a foreign land. How disillusioned they must have been to be captured but God still seeks to guide them and prosper them there. Circumstances never limit God’s ability to work and move. And how comforting for them to hear that the time frame in this foreign place will be limited and that God will restore them to the promised land. How powerful Jeremiah 29:11 is! It demonstrates God’s heart to all people but it will only be those who follow Him that will attain it.

    And yet God’s word to those who remain in Israel and remain disobedient in spite of seeing the discipline of God before their eyes is not good. If one level of correction doesn’t work, then God will be more than willing to ramp it up. It is also important for God to make clear who is speaking for Him and who is not. It is very easy for people to be misdirected in how they understand the circumstances they are in, what God thinks about it and what they should do, especially when people’s worlds have been turned upside down. So God will silence those who say they are from Him but are not.

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  4. God directs the people through Jeremiah to live in the land of their captivity…not just survive but thrive as a people. He tells them how long it will be. He rebukes those who give them false prophesy and tells them their fate.

    He gives them hope of release from their captivity.

    “For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”

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