Jeremiah 29: Bloom Where You're Planted

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease" (vs. 4-6).

What would you do if you were suddenly ripped away from your homeland and forced to re-settle as a foreigner in a strange country?  Would you adamantly refuse to put down roots and adapt to your new surroundings?  Would you live as an angry rebel and try to foment insurrection?

The Jews who had been plucked out of the land of Judah and exiled to Babylon faced this choice.  Some were trusting false prophets who said that their condition was just temporary and that Babylon was about to fall.  They counseled the exiles to abstain from getting on with their lives and to work for the overthrow of the government so that they could quickly return home.  Jeremiah blasted these men for misleading the people, and he proclaimed that such false prophets would soon be killed by Nebuchadnezzar (vs. 21).

Instead, Jeremiah told the exiles that Babylon would endure for seventy years (vs. 10).  Then the exile will end and the Jews will return to Judah.  Until that time, Jeremiah wrote them in a letter, the exiles should live, prosper, and basically bloom where they were planted.  They should even work for the good of their communities and for Babylon, because that will make their fortunes go better for them (vs. 7).

Life doesn't just stop because things don't go the way we want them to.  Jeremiah advises that we should flourish whatever our external circumstances happen to be.  Even in the case of an event as calamitous as the exile, it is important that God's people go on with life to prepare the next generations for the move of God.

P.S. This chapter includes one of my favorite scripture verses!  "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope" (vs. 11).  Sometimes those who cite this verse are criticized for misappropriating a scripture that applies specifically to the exiles in Babylon.  The thinking goes that this is a promise that cannot be universally applied to everyone.  That's fair, but I would add that it DOES represent God's heart for His people in general.  It may be a theological leap to apply this verse individually today, but it gives us a valuable insight into God's grace and the power of hope.