“LIVING WITH THINGS YOU CANNOT CHANGE”
(Jeremiah 27:1-29:32)
“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 their 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. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” – Jeremiah 29:4-7
The people of Judah were taken into captivity by the Babylonians as discipline for their disobedience and backsliding. Their lives were shattered. Everything lost. No future. No hope. Just survival.
The truth is, we all are living in exile. Not dragged from our homes to a foreign land like ancient Israel, but exiles nonetheless. Displaced. Disoriented. Longing for home. The world we knew is gone. Life is broken. Trouble presses in. Welcome to Babylon!
Then God’s prophet, Jeremiah, sent a Word from the Lord during this dark time. Not a quick and easy deliverance but a message to anchor their souls. God gave them a plan and a purpose.
“Build houses and live in them … plant gardens and eat their produce … seek the welfare of the city.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7)
God’s rescue will not be immediate – they would have to wait 70 years. But they were told to live fully while in exile. How could they? Because God was there. Babylon was not beyond God’s sovereignty. Neither is you isolation. The call is not to wait passively, but to work joyfully. Dig gardens in strange soil. Raise children under foreign skies. Pray for the good of people that are doing you harm. Live with things that you cannot change.
Then comes God’s promise (v. 11): “I know the plans I have for you … plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” These words are not cliché, coffee cup ditties – they are covenant. Not spoken to comfortable suburbanites, but to people in chains. I will bring you home … but not yet. Not before I teach you to seek Me with all your heart.
Our hope isn’t in going back to “normal.” It’s not in our exile ending soon. Our hope is in the God who never left us. Who is and always will be faithful.
So while we wait, we worship, we pray, we trust. We’ll live well in exile. And we will emerge as people of deeper faith and stronger hope.
Application
- Live fully in the present, even in exile. Don’t wait for better circumstance to obey God. God hasn’t abandoned you in the place of hardship – He has called you to be faithful in it.
- Trust God’s timing and His promises. 70 years is a long time to wait in exile. Though we don’t know the details we can still rest in the fact that God’s plans are for our good, and His promises never fail. Never.
- Seek God with your whole heart. Use this season to press into prayer, worship, and the Word.
Closing Prayer…
Lord, teach me to trust you even in adversity and uncertainty. Give me endurance to build and plant and love and serve, even in Babylon. And as I seek you with all my heart, meet me. Speak hope into my despair, peace into my fear, and clarity into my confusion. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
About our Author
John A Pra was born and raised in Queens, NY and has lived almost all of his life in the metropolitan area. After graduating from Bible college (now University of Valley Forge) he entered into full-time pastoral ministry. John and his wife, Diana, have been living in Carlstadt since 1990, pastoring Cornerstone Church and now at Transformation Life Church since 2022.
John and Diana have been married for 39 years and have three children and one granddaughter (who owns them). Besides loving time spent with family, he enjoys sports, reading, travel, and the golf course.
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