I Seek to Know the Heart in His Word
Scripture Passage: Jeremiah 29:1-14 (NASB)
1 Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the high officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers had departed from Jerusalem.) 3 The letter was sent by 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, saying, 4 “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease. 7 Seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord in its behalf; for in its prosperity will be your prosperity.’ 8 For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst or your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to their interpretations of your dreams which you dream. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord.
10 “For this is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come 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 let Myself be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
SUMMARY
After the people of Judah are carried off into exile in Babylon, Jeremiah sends a letter to the surviving elders. In the letter, he tells the exiles to settle down in Babylon, raise children, find wives for their sons and give daughters in marriage. Jeremiah further tells them to pray both for their own prosperity and the prosperity of Babylon, because the exiles’ prosperity is now tied to the prosperity of the city where they now live. The Lord states that after seventy years, He will fulfill His promise to return His people to Israel. The Lord says: “For I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
MEDITATION AND REFLECTION
In other places in the Old Testament, God tells the Israelites to remain apart from the unbelieving tribes around them. Yet here, having been carried off into captivity, God’s people are instructed by God to carry on with their lives in Babylon, to build families, to have children, to put down roots in Babylon. What is more, God instructs the exiles to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.”
This seems counterintuitive. Other false prophets were saying the opposite – don’t put down roots in Babylon because God will come and rescue the exiles soon. But even though those prophets were saying something that God’s people wanted to hear (and that seemed consistent with God’s prior messages to His people), this time those false prophets were wrong. God had to warn the exiles of Judah in this passage: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.” (V.8)
APPLICATION
If I were among the Judeans in captivity in Babylon, I would much prefer to listen to those who were saying that I would be rescued soon. Of course, Jeremiah turns out to be right. He heard the voice of God correctly. But at the time, how would I have known that Jeremiah was the true prophet and not those who were telling me the thing I wanted to hear (that I wanted to be rescued)?
I would have trusted Jeremiah because Jeremiah had proven, through his prior years of warnings, that he was truly hearing and speaking the word of the Lord. And also because the word of the Lord, as given by Jeremiah, was consistent with the God that we know from the Bible. The God who judges us but also loves us and forgives us. Who disciplines us and sometimes sends us into exile, but who ultimately tells us that He has plans to give us a hope and a future.
In these difficult and uncertain times, I sometimes find it difficult to hear God’s voice. Who is right? Who is wrong? What does God really want me to do, as a husband, as a father, in my workplace? What does God want for our church? For our country? It seems like people on both sides of so many disagreements use the Bible as a weapon. The Bible is long enough so that if I look hard enough, I will find justification for just about any position I want to take. But that is superficial knowledge. Looking up “verses on wisdom” on google will give me countless Bible verses about wisdom. But reading that list won’t give me a true understanding of the Bible’s view about wisdom. That requires deeper reading.
I need to know the Word of the Lord. Not superficially in the sense that I know random parts of the Bible, but deeply and completely. My wife is currently doing more expansive bible reading along with the daily devotionals. I will commit to doing the bible reading with her.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you so much for Your Word. You send us clear direction, through the Bible, through our pastors, through so many different sources. But I don’t hear Your Word, because I’m too busy searching through Your Word for justification for my own beliefs. Help me to stop this. Help me instead to read Your Word thoroughly, without any pre-judgment, just to understand and love You more. Help me to come to You and Your Word with the sole purpose of knowing Your heart and desire for me, whatever that might be.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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