Right Where I Am
When you look around to find your home, job, church and every other area of life you can think of (entertainment, restaurants, stores, etc.) are different and new, you have moments of feeling paralyzed with doubts. Not doubts about the reason you made that choice. Not doubts about the very clear calling on your life. Not doubts about your gifts and talents and how God can use you. The doubts bubble to the surface because what was familiar is no longer familiar. These doubts both separate you from those around you and unify you with those who are experiencing the same doubts. These doubts propel you forward with renewed energy while at the same time depleting all of your energy. These doubts nudge you towards Jesus and pave the way of throwing up your hands in despair. I give up. No, I will press forward. I have nothing to give. No, I will offer everything.
A series of conversations, loss of ministry opportunities, and the stalling of momentum laid the groundwork as I read Jeremiah 29. After 30 minutes of reading and journaling, I was reminded of 3 truths, 3 applications of these truths, 1 promise, and 1 warning.
Towards the end of Jeremiah’s time, God’s people were in exile. Babylon had conquered Jerusalem and many Israelites had been taken to Babylon (remember the story of Daniel).
God speaks through his prophet Jeremiah to remind His people of His sovereignty and to provide them with practical encouragement on what to do now.
**Please note - I am in NO way suggesting that living in the Dominican Republic by our own choice is the same as God’s people who were exiled. I am simply stating, that like them, we live in an unfamiliar country.**
Verse 4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon”
Truth # 1 - God is the sender. He sent the Israelites into exile and there is always a purpose for the sending. Always. We aren’t located where we are, in the Dominican Republic, by happenstance. God sent us here. When we were living in the suburbs of Houston, we were sent there by God. It is where He wanted us for an allotted time.
Let’s skip a few verses down in Jeremiah.
Verses 10-11 “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Truth # 2 -God has a plan for us. Verse 11 tells us that He has “plans for our welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Nowhere does it say that the plans He has for us are easy and without trials. Being a Christ-follower is not a guarantee that life will be trouble free. But the beauty in being a child of God is that these plans are not for evil; they are plans to give us a future and a hope. We have hope because our Father is a good, good God. We have hope because even when we don’t know what is around the corner, we have the Holy Spirit as our guide and counselor. We have hope because the plans God has for us are for us. They have been especially designed for us, and we have been created for a purpose and with a purpose.
Verses 12-14 - “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”
Truth # 3 - God will not abandon us. When we take an active step and seek God with all of our heart, He hears us and will find us. He will lift us out of the pit, out of despair, out of exile and restore us. We are not alone even when we feel alone. We have been give the Holy Spirit who will never leave us. We literally carry the Spirit of God within us!! It is such a great reminder that even we feel overwhelmed and alone, He is right there. Encouraging us. Cheering for us. Guiding us. Restoring us.
Knowing these 3 truths is powerful, but God has also provided instructions to the Israelites about what to do while they are in exile. Regardless of where we are located - Dominican Republic, Houston, Austin, or any other place on earth, here are three ways to apply these truths. Let’s pop back up to verses 5-7.
Verses 5-7 “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Application # 1 - Build your house and LIVE in it. Verse 5 tells us to live your life to its fullest right where you are located. Don’t press pause on your life trying to wait it out to see where God will take you next, because the truth is, you could be in this spot for a year, 5 years, a decade or 70 years. God wants us to live our life fully where our two feet are located. Not only does it say to build a home and live in it, but He tells us to plant the garden and eat from it. When I read that part, I kept thinking about how the act of eating is an opportunity to fellowship with those around us. One indicator of the health of our family can be what happens around the dining table. Are we eating meals together? Do we speak to one another, share truth, and laugh together? Right now, in this season, our feet are located in Montellano, Dominican Republic and we need to live our lives fully as we disciple Zoey and Scottie around our table.
Application # 2 - Create your family. Obviously, Scott and I had already created our family prior to the move. But when we packed up only two of our four kids and moved to the Caribbean, we left a huge part of our family and our support community in the United States. When I read verse 6, I am reminded that we are supposed to create our “family”, our new community, here. We cannot simply close ourselves off and just wait it out until later. We were created to live in community, and for some of us (ME!), the community doesn’t always come naturally because we are reserved and cautious. In our pride, we live our lives as though we can handle it all on our own. Somehow allowing others into our support community, the family we create, seems too vulnerable because we are acknowledging that we don’t have it all together. But I am reminded that we are designed for community (family), and regardless of where we are located and no matter for how long, we are told to create this community right where are two feet are located.
Application # 3 - Love and serve those in the place where you live. Verse 7 tells us to seek the welfare of those who are in our city. Seeking the welfare of others, especially strangers and not ourselves, is often so very contrary to what we are told by the world to do. God tells us to pray on their behalf. I am not told to thump them over the head with “shoulds” and “why don’t yous”, but rather I am told to humbly petition on their behalf before the Lord.
In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus teaches us that the greatest commandment in the law is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love God and love others. It is that simple. We don’t need to study the Greek looking for a different interpretation because it means exactly what it says. It just couldn’t be more clear.
In John 13:34-35 Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
If we love others well, they will know that we are Christ’s disciples. The evidence of who we are, who we follow, and what we believe is in our actions. Our words have power, but at the end of the day, the way in which we love our city says so much more than our words.
Jeremiah 29:7 gives us a little motivation, or a promise, for seeking the welfare of and praying for the city where our two feet are located.
“for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Promise - Caring for the welfare of others is how we will find our welfare. The definition of welfare (according to Oxford Languages) is the health, happiness, and fortunes of a person or group. Our health, happiness, and fortunes are wrapped up in the how we care for others.
Yet, Jeremiah also issues a warning for those in exile.
Verses 8-9 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.”
Warning - Be cautious of the voice(s) you allow to speak to you. Are you believing the truths, promises, and instructions of God? Or are you allowing outside voices to take prominence in what you believe to be true. Reread verses 8 and 9. Jeremiah says they are trying to deceive and lie to us. The voice telling you that it is ok to close yourself off from your community because it is only temporary, that voice is deceiving you. The voice causing you to doubt your purpose, gifts, and ability to love your neighbor because you are a stranger, that voice is lying to you. The voice whispering that you are all alone, that voice is not sent from God.
Choose to make God’s voice the loudest voice and trust that He has you exactly where He wants you. Each day wake up and choose obedience. Create your home right where you are and live your life. Fellowship in your home. Invite others into your community - the family you create. Seek the welfare of and pray for those in the city where your feet are located. We do these things because they are an act of obedience. But friend, God tells us that by doing these things we will also find our own health, happiness, and fortune. God’s kindness towards us is so very great. May the One who sends you be the One you seek. Living a life that truly reflects the heart of God always starts with me.
