Context No. 3174 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 29:1-14: in context

1Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2(after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem), 3by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). It said: 4The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don’t be diminished. 7Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” 8For the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you. Don’t listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. 9For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them,” says the LORD. 10For the LORD says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. 12You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” says the LORD, “and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you,” says the LORD. “I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.”

Jeremiah writes a letter to the exiles carried off to Babylon, and God's word to them is surprising. Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit; marry, have children, multiply. Seek the welfare of the very city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD for it, for in its welfare you will find yours. And then the promise: after seventy years I will bring you back.

God's word to a displaced, defeated people is remarkable. Rather than tell them to resist or wait passively, he says settle in, build, plant, and even seek the good of the city that holds them captive, and pray for it. Bloom where you are exiled. And the famous promise is set precisely here, in exile, spoken to people whose lives had collapsed: I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. God's good plans are not a denial of their hard reality but a promise held out in the middle of it, and the way into them is to seek him with the whole heart.

In a season of exile or loss, can I settle in and seek good where I am, trusting God's plans for a future and a hope, and seek him with my whole heart?

Sources

Jeremiah 29:7: "Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it."
Jeremiah 29:11: "I know the thoughts that I think toward you... thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:13: "You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart."