Have you ever felt like you were in a place of exile?

Maybe not a literal deportation from your homeland to a foreign country …but you are in a place you would rather not be in.

You have moved to new city or a new school and now long for close friendships. You are in a struggling marriage and long for your relationship to be better.

Or maybe you are in a season of waiting.

Waiting for that new job, or for admission into the right school, waiting to meet your life partner.

Whichever end of the spectrum you find yourself in, Jeremiah 29 offers clear instructions as to what God desires for His children living in exile?

“Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

God wants you to pray.

Pray not just for yourself to find friends in your new city or school…but begin praying for your city and for your school…..”for if it prospers…you too will prosper.”

Pray for your broken marriage… not just that your spouse will understand you more, but that you will understand Him more and that in the end your marriage will honor and glorify God.

We may have little control of our present situation, but we do have control of what we choose to do while there.

Eugene Peterson states, “Exile reveals what really matters and frees us to pursue what really matters- to seek the Lord with all our hearts.”

After seventy years of being faithful in exile, Jeremiah 29:11 declares God’s glorious promise to His children.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

So as you wait for the fulfillment of Jeremiah 29:11, I pray God will give you the strength to pray and may He give you eyes to see His hand of faithfulness even in your very place of exile.

-Binu

by binu

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