MONDAY: IT’S TIME TO SETTLE DOWN

Sep 12, 2022
2 min read

MONDAY: IT’S TIME TO SETTLE DOWN

Lord, living in this world is a little unsettling. Please calm my heart and help me to know what You have called me here to do.

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-6

This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

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.

This looks like a picture of my life on earth. Since I am a citizen of heaven, I’m in exile on this earth. No wonder I feel out of place! In this passage, God gives instructions to the Jewish exiles in the foreign land of Babylon.

God tells the exiles to build houses and settle down. There’s no place like home, and He wanted the exiles to know this would be their temporary home, so they might as well make themselves at home. Nothing establishes “home” more than building my own house and planting a garden for food.

The instructions to marry and increase in number are similar to what the Israelites did in Egypt. Their ancestors had been exiles before, and God’s instructions to exiles had not changed. Also included in this message is finding wives among your own people for your sons and giving your daughters to those who are among your own people. While this was targeted to Jewish people at that time, it is also a message about marriage within the body of believers today.

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS: I can finally settle down. The place where I’m living and the things I’m doing aren’t meant to last forever; even my home is temporary. I want to remember that the only reason I’m in “exile” on this earth is because God carried me here.

To be sent into a foreign land to follow the instructions of the Lord sounds like the work of a missionary. While I’m exiled on this strange planet, I might as well make the best of it. By listening to the Lord, I will know what to do.

Building, planting, and instructing children in marriage all take effort. By the grace of God, my effort will be rewarded by peace in my heart today and an eternity in heaven. Lord, please bless the fruit of Your instructions as I obey them and encourage others to do likewise.

May you be blessed,

Chaplain Wayne Ruckman