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Settle In...

                         This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 29:4-9)

            The unthinkable had happened. God had promised the send them into exile if they didn’t listen, and they didn’t listen. Now they had been forced from their homes, to settle in a place where they – and their ways – were not loved. And they would be there for seventy years. Their lives were over. Their children would likely be raised to practice what the Israelites hadn’t minded when they were permitted to choose what they practiced. But now that the Babylonians would insist on it, such practices were as much anathema as they should have been when Israel was welcoming them.

            In some ways, the Jews must have felt the way we tend to feel when, over the last 6 years, our chosen politician lost (which-ever was your chosen politician.) The doomers and gloomers told us that America would be destroyed if one got into power and that our democracy would be destroyed if the other did. (Though it is interesting that one saw the destruction of a nation, and the other the destruction of a political system or mechanism. That is the difference between a small-n nationalist and an internationalist, I think. With one, the nation is paramount. With the other, it doesn’t matter at all.)

            In their despair, they turned to those who claimed to speak for God, begging for good news. Apparently, some were telling them what they wanted to hear, whether that meant doom and gloom for them or victory for them. That may sound strange, but martyrdom has its appeal. If they died in that place, wouldn’t God be sorry! That would teach Him the lesson about breaking His promises (that He didn’t break.)

            What does God tell them? Settle down. Build houses, families, and careers. He wasn’t quite saying “take-over,” but he was at least saying “grow in influence.” What does God tell us when the candidate we didn’t want gets elected? Live in the land. Build houses, careers, and families. Grow in influence.

            My mind is whining about that last one. Grow in influence? Get out there and take positions of authority? Become Daniels, Mordecais, and Josephs? Fortunately, that’s not the limit of God’s meaning. There is only room for a few Daniels, Mordecais and Josephs. There’s more room for people who say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” There’s lots of room for those who practice their love for God by loving their neighbors.

            In a disaster, the basic responses are to either bug out (flee, evacuate), or hunker down (shelter in place.) Israel had been evacuated (forcibly) and they would remain exiles for nearly twice as long as the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness. But He didn’t tell them to separate themselves from the Babylonians and other exiles. They were to obey the Law, but there was no “Leave this place and go hide in the wilderness.” Instead, their instructions were to “live long and prosper.”

            And it is after He tells them to settle into a situation they do not and cannot like that He says,  “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.” (Jeremiah 29:11) 

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