One of the loneliest feelings I have experienced was walking through a foreign city by myself. Strange noises and unrecognizable landmarks abound. As you pass people on the street you know that language barriers inhibit strangers from becoming friends.
This must have been how the Israelites felt when they were exiled out of Jerusalem. As they walked the streets of Babylon, they encountered an entirely new way of life. Even something as simple as finding food was different than it was at home.
They must have felt incredibly discouraged.
They had just watched their city and temple be destroyed. The temple in Jerusalem was the dwelling place of God. Without the temple his people no longer had access to him. Now sitting in Babylon, far from the ruins, they felt God had abandoned them.
But God sends a message to the Israelites through Jeremiah. He tells the people they should continue doing common things. They should marry, have children, build homes and work. He tells them to pray for the nation they find themselves in because, as “things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you” (Jeremiah 29:7).
This is all part of God’s plan. God led them into the exile because they broke the covenant that he had with them. As he had done many times with his people when they had turned away, he gets their attention. Now that he has their ear, God promises that in 70 years he will restore all that was lost.
He tells them, “For I know the plans I have for you… plans to give you a future hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
The future hope that God promises is that they will no longer be separated from him. The God who miraculously rescued his people from Egypt now led them into captivity once again, but he won’t leave them there. He will rescue them. He is calling them to come back to him.
I have always read Jeremiah 29:11 as a promise that God has a plan for my future “work.” Because our culture so greatly values success in terms of earning or power, I assumed that his good plan for me would unquestionably lead to a “job” filled with success, power and influence. But the hope the people of Israel longed for was that God would one day be close to them again. He promised that he would once again commune with his people.
Oswald Chambers said that as he matured in his faith he discovered, “prayer does not equip us for greater works– prayer is the greater work.” As Christians, perhaps we spend too much time focusing on what “great works” we should accomplish for God.
We dream and plan for a successful career or bountiful ministry, but what God wants most is for us to seek him with our entire being.
Like the Israelites, we are “temporary residents and foreigners” in a pagan culture (1 Peter 2:11). As followers of Christ we are citizens of God’s kingdom. But until that kingdom comes into its full reality and Christ returns, we are also stuck as exiles in our culture. The values and ideals of our culture are very different from God’s plans and desires.
As pilgrims our true home is with the Lord. We should work, marry, raise families, establish homes and engage our communities. But our primary identity should not be associated with our occupation, spouse, size of our home or the nation we live.
Instead, we should identify ourselves primarily as individuals seeking Jesus with our whole hearts. God’s plan for each of our lives is that we live knowing him. Whether as teachers, bankers, doctors, lawyers, pastors, married, single, young or old this is what he desires most.
My prayer is that we be moved to spend time in the presence of Jesus. May we fully embrace his plan for our life– knowing him.
“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” (Jeremiah 29:11-14 ESV).
Brandon Morgan 