04/04/2018 BE A SURVIVOR
JEREMIAH 29:4-5 This is what the LORD ALMIGHTY, the GOD of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build house 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.” [New International translation]
Summary
Some refer to the Bible as our Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (B.I.B.L.E). Nowhere is this clearer than in Jeremiah’s 29th chapter, “A Letter to the Exiles.”
Jeremiah was the son of a priest. He prophesized about the destruction of Jerusalem and the hardships the Jewish people would suffer because of their flagrant unfaithfulness to GOD. The Jewish people had entered into covenant relationship with GOD but had broken their word to GOD again and again and again. They had built altars to and worshipped other gods. They had even gone so far as to sacrifice their own children to idols. The people’s actions were so defiant that GOD withdrew HIMSELF, HIS protection and HIS blessings. As a result, the Israelites were defeated by their enemies and many of them ended up in under foreign rule.
Jeremiah chapter 29 contains the text of a letter that Jeremiah sent to the exiles who had been deported from Jerusalem to Babylon, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The letter contained a message from GOD. The message was a recipe for survival. GOD tells the people that their stay in Babylon will not be short. Most of them would be in exile for a lifetime—seventy years (Verse 10).
To make it through the years ahead, GOD gives the people some instructions for surviving in captivity or what to the Israelites was a hostile environment. . HE tells them to “settle down,” “build houses,” “plant gardens” and “eat what the gardens produce,” marry, multiply there, increase and not decrease. HE tells them to pray and seek the welfare of the city in which they live because its welfare is now tied to theirs (Verse 7). GOD tells them that HE still has a plan for them (verse 11), but the people would have to seek and wait on the LORD. HE cautions them not to listen to false prophets, peddling invented “dreams” and making all sorts of claims about greatness, because they are just lies. Instead, they must work hard and have faith in GOD. If the people seek the LORD in earnest, HE promised that they will find HIM. GOD still had a plan for them.
Plant Gardens
March 20th was the first day of Spring. It was the time of the equinox. The word “equinox” is derived from two Latin words “aequus” (equal) and “nox” (night). It is the time when day and night are at equal length.
It is now April and the soil is starting to warm. It is a perfect time to think about planting a garden. Gardening has a number of benefits, including the following:
- Gardening provides healthier, more nutritious, fresh food;
- Gardening can teach us many things about food and nutrition;
- Gardening promotes physical and mental health; and
- Gardening can be a way of giving back—to friends, family, and neighbors, especially those who may be housebound or homeless and in need.