Get On with Life

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” (Jeremiah 29:4–7, KJV)

In 1987, I was working for a Swiss company as the Director of Technical Services in the United States. One day after completing a major project for a machine to be installed in France, the company informed me that my job position was being eliminated due to a change in focus. This put me in a position I never anticipated and did not want.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a place where we would rather not be. There are many responses that people may have when they are in adverse situations, some positive and some negative. However, as believers we are to respond by faith in these times. Faith is always the positive response.

In this passage, Jeremiah writes a letter with the Lord’s instructions to some 4,600 exiles in Babylon. You must imagine that the exiles were in a place where they never wanted to be. Discouraged and disheartened, what were they to do? What the Lord tells them to do is somewhat counter intuitive. One might think that while being forced into a place under foreign control they should just survive with no hope. Yet the Lord tells them to do more than just survive, he tells them to thrive. Look at His words, He tells them to build houses, plant gardens, bear sons and daughters, and strangely to bless the place where they then resided with welfare and peace. They were to get on with life by faith according to the word of the Lord.

While will see the purpose for this in a future devotional thought, let us now consider the applications for us. First, we must not give up on life. We must do the best we can according to the strength that the Lord gives us to live a normal godly life that brings glory to God. We must not allow the devil to get us off of the path of righteousness. We must press on with strength and endurance even in the midst of the most sever trials.

Second, we must work to be a blessing to others even when we are not in the place that we want to be. We might be feeling sorry for ourselves, especially when we need the help and encouragement of others and none comes. Yet it is good medicine to bless others when we are emotionally and even physically impaired. When we do this, it amazingly can have the ability to change our own countenance.