Advent Devotional by Connie McNeill

Jeremiah 29:7-14

The arc of living abundantly and experiencing peace. (Jeremiah 29:11)

God’s prophet, Jeremiah, is in Jerusalem. He writes a letter to a group of Israelites who have been taken from Jerusalem to live in exile in the city of Babylon. This was ordered by King Nebuchadnezzar. The group included elders, priests, prophets, the queen mother, the court officials, and other officials of Judah, even the craftsmen and artisans. Interesting, that he overlooked Jeremiah.

This letter is in chapter twenty-nine. If you were the people’s prophet writing to them in a difficult circumstance, you might begin with words of comfort and well wishing. Encouragement that this exile would surely not last long. Comforting words that their places, positions and possessions would remain for them. I think that’s what I would like to hear but in his forthright style, Jeremiah has another kind of word, a word that requires a longer look.

He tells them not to wither away but to flourish and multiply. Don’t just survive—thrive in your exile. Make your life in this place where you didn’t want to be, would not have chosen to be, never planned to be. He tells them to build, to plant, to eat and be well, to marry, to have children and grandchildren. After all, they were going to be there seventy years. How long seventy years is depends upon your perspective—it’s a single lifetime or three generations. Instead of taking the short term, temporal look at life, Jeremiah tells them to take the long look, settle in where they are, and live an abundant life.

It reminds me of Paul’s words in Philippians to be content in whatever state we are in. Paul says that he has “learned to be” so that means it was a learned contentment. It must have been a practice or discipline that included all of Paul’s being-- physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. From the Old to the New, God’s covenant with God’s people has had this same theme. To be at peace. To be at peace because God has not abandoned the plan and the future God has for us will still come to be. To live abundantly, regardless. This too is part of the plan for us. Sometimes being someplace we don’t want to be-- literally or allegorically-- is part of the plan and the place where we will experience God’s peace.

Connie McNeill & Max (Four Paw Inspiration)