If You’re Somewhere You Don’t Want To Be

If You’re Somewhere You Don’t Want To BeJENNY WHEELER Lee en español “Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.” Jeremiah 29:7 (CSB) In elementary school, I remember being sent to timeout for discipline. For those few agonizing minutes, it was painful to be in a place I didn’t want to be. I felt small, discouraged and lonely — like someone had drained the life out of me. I had been exiled. And I didn’t like it at all. Exile is when a person or group is displaced from where they belong. Adam and Eve experienced exile when they sinned and God sent them away from Eden, both as an act of divine discipline and for their protection. Jesus was acquainted with exile when He left His home in heaven and faced the cross on earth. The early Church, too, was scattered and experienced great persecution. Exile is often accompanied by feelings of abandonment, loneliness or fear. We may experience this ourselves when we move to a new place, when life changes unexpectedly, when we don't see the answer to our prayer, or when our season of waiting seems unending … So if exile is part of life, what can we learn from it? Today’s key verse painted a hope-filled picture for God’s people while they were exiled from Israel to live in Babylon, and it gives us hope as well: “Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive” (Jeremiah 29:7). God wanted to teach His people that how they lived was more important than where they lived. In adverse conditions, their lives still had purpose — as ours do — and they would fulfill that purpose as they chose to do two things: show up and look up.  Show up. God told the people to fully engage in life in Babylon. It would have been easy to give up in captivity, but God wanted Israel to expand, not shrink back (Jeremiah 29:5-6). They had a lot of living left to do!  Look up. By inviting God’s presence into their situation, the people would get through victoriously, not just barely surviving. Instead of cursing their enemies, God asked Israel to bless and pray for them. Looking out for the interests of Babylon was directly tied to blessings for Israel. Jeremiah 29:11 confirmed God’s promise to Israel: “‘For I know the plans I have for you’—this is the LORD’s declaration—‘plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (CSB). In this difficult place, there was hope! God brought Israel out of exile, and He will bring us out of exile too. Life may not unfold how we expected, but if we find ourselves in a place we don’t want to be, we can still trust that God has equipped us not only to survive but to thrive. Let’s keep showing up and looking up. He is with us, and He has good plans. Father, thank You that I am Your daughter, part of Your family. I am grateful for the life I have in You. Wherever I find myself today and in all of my tomorrows, I want to live to honor You and bless others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.