Today's Daily Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 1 and 3b-11:
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon . . . It said: 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: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 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. 7 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. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.
10 For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
Jeremiah sends his letter to the exiles in Babylon, the content of which is basically this: "Settle down. Don't have your heart on escape. Learn to live where you are. Accept your reality. It is your reality -- and will be for a long time, all your lives in fact."
We are all living in a kind of exile now. Our lives are dramatically changed from where they were at the beginning of March.
This is our reality now. And it may be our reality for a long time. We may never go back to things as they were. And even if there were a vaccine tomorrow, many of us would still have lost businesses and/or lost jobs in the meantime. Plus there are 150,000 American lives which have been lost to all this.
Jeremiah tells us we must accept where we are. We must come to terms with the fact that there is no miracle of deliverance.
"Plant gardens where you are at," Jeremiah says. "Eat what you produce." "Build houses and live in them." "Go on and get married." "Make the best of the place you find yourselves."
That is the miracle -- not deliverance, but resilience.
Not rescue, but survival.
And from the little seed planted grows a garden that feeds a people and sustains them -- even in their exile.
NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapters 30 and 31.
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