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Daily Bible Studywith SEEDS OF THE KINGDOM

Updated: Saturday, 22 November 2008, 12:06 (GMT)

11 August 2008 | Jeremiah 29:1-19

I had been left in Jerusalem when King Nebuchadnezzar took many of the people of Jerusalem and Judah to Babylonia as prisoners, including King Jehoiachin, his mother, his officials, and the metal workers and others in Jerusalem who were skilled in making things. So I wrote a letter to the prophets, the priests, the leaders, and the rest of our people in Babylonia. I gave the letter to Elasah and Gemariah, two men that King Zedekiah of Judah was sending to Babylon to talk with Nebuchadnezzar. In the letter, I wrote that the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel, had said: I had you taken from Jerusalem to Babylonia. Now I tell you to settle there and build houses. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them. Get married and have children, then help your sons find wives and help your daughters find husbands, so they can have children as well. I want your numbers to grow, not to get smaller.

Pray for peace in Babylonia and work hard to make it prosperous. The more successful that nation is, the better off you will be. Some of your people there in Babylonia are fortunetellers, and you have asked them to tell you what will happen in the future. But they will only lead you astray. And don't let the prophets fool you, either. They speak in my name, but they are liars. I have not spoken to them.

After Babylonia has been the strongest nation for seventy years, I will be kind and bring you back to Jerusalem, just as I have promised. I will bless you with a future filled with hope--a future of success, not of suffering. You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers. You will worship me with all your heart, and I will be with you and accept your worship. Then I will gather you from all the nations where I scattered you, and you will return to Jerusalem.

You feel secure, because you think I have sent prophets to speak for me in Babylonia. But I have been sending prophets to the people of Judah for a long time, and the king from David's family and the people who are left in Jerusalem and Judah still don't obey me. So I, the LORD All-Powerful, will keep attacking them with war and hunger and disease, until they are as useless as rotten figs. I will force them to leave the land, and all nations will be disgusted and shocked at what happens to them. The nations will sneer and make fun of them and use the names "Judah" and "Jerusalem" as curse words.

Notes

Do you want to know God better? In this letter to the Jews who were living as exiles in Babylon, important things are revealed about him.

God reveals his power to orchestrate events on an international scale. Nebuchadnezzar did defeat Jerusalem and take some of its population to Babylon, but God admits he was behind it all! People may believe they're in control, but ultimately, God reigns.

God is totally committed to his people. He tells them to embrace life in spite of their circumstances. They are to settle down in Babylon and are to work for the peace and prosperity of their captors. There's no denying the reality and hardship of exile. But life in and with God goes on!

God plans to restore his people. Even as he is disciplining them, God's heart is still full of compassion - and his mind totally set on their well-being.

God deals decisively with wrongdoing. The exile was evidence of this. Those left in Jerusalem felt special and spared, but God has a devastating message for them.

God states what he hopes for: a deep relationship with people completely sold out for him.

Are you sold out for God?
What's your attitude when you're in situations you wouldn't choose for yourself, whether that's to do with your work, your health, your finances, your relationship status...
Do you still embrace life and live it? Do you still do what God asks?

Prayer

'Every breath you take, every step you take...' is a gift from God.
Take a moment to focus on God through prayer.

Today's Writer

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