August 2, 2013 – Jeremiah 29

I think it is interesting that God tells the exiles to continue to live.  Yes, they are being punished for their sins, but God isn’t wanting them to spend the next 70 years dissipating, He wants them to grow.  He tells them that this is not the end, but His plans for them are for great things and when He is ready to start them, they need to be ready.  I think it would be very easy for them to be disheartened and to also hate or make trouble where they go, but God is telling them to do whatever they can to help those cities where they are going to.  If they help them, it will help the Israelites grow and they need to be grown and ready for when the 70 years is up.  God did the same in Egypt.  The Hebrews went down and, yes, they became slaves, but slaves in such vast numbers that a nation was able to come out of Egypt when a family had gone in.  Granted the nation that came out had to be sterilized from the worship of false gods, but God is telling them to be faithful to Him while in exile to try and avoid that.  This isn’t supposed to be like the slavery in Egypt, this is supposed to be like the Wilderness they went into after that.