Living Faithful in a Faithless Land: A Study of DanielSample

Week 1: God is at Work Even on the Painful Days

Work for the Good of Your Enemy

Read: Psalm 137:1-4; 2 Kings 25:4-12; Jeremiah 29:4-14

SOAP: Jeremiah 29:7

“Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the Lord for it. For as it prospers you will prosper.’”

Into the Text

Jeremiah 29 is a letter of hope God prompts Jeremiah to write to the exiles. God reminded His people who He is. He has Heavenly armies, and He is still in control. But God also reminded them the exile would last 70 years, so settle down. Build houses. Plant food. Get married. Have kids and grandkids.

God instructed His people to work for the good of their enemy and to seek the peace and prosperity of Babylon! Can you imagine being given this instruction after all the Babylonians have done?

However, God placed them there for a reason. This time in exile was to help the Israelites (both from Israel and Judah) to trust God, to build their faith, and also to be witnesses. They were to live for God in an alien culture. If God’s people opposed everything in Babylon and lived completely separate, or if they just fit in and lived the same as the Babylonians, the outcome would be the same. The Babylonians would learn nothing about God!

For the people of God at the start of the book of Daniel, life was hard. Everything was in turmoil. Yet God spoke into this with calming words of hope in Jeremiah 29:11. He told the people, “I am working out my plans, and they are for your good.”

How are we to live in a culture alien to our beliefs? We could fight and be as separate as possible, or we could allow the prevailing culture to influence us so heavily that we don’t live any differently. In Daniel, we saw a different way. Even when our lives are in turmoil, we can trust God. He is in control.

This world isn’t our eternal home. Our eternal home is so much greater than any land here. But until we get to go there, we are called to live faithfully where we have been placed now.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, you are all-knowing. When my future is unclear, help me to rest in the knowledge that it is known by you. Help me to show your love to those around me and to be faithful to you even when the world around me is faithless. May I trust that your plans are for good even when they take me on a path I would not choose. Amen