"Build houses and make yourselves at home. Put in gardens and eat what grows in that country. Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children so that you'll thrive in that country and not waste away. Make yourselves at home there and work for the country's welfare. Pray for Babylon's well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you."
"I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed. 'God's Decree'. I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you - 'God's Decree' - bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it."
"They won't get away with a thing. I've witnessed it all." Eeks! The passage just preceding this statement is... well, shocking. But sounds eerily like what I see in my world today. What a comfort to know that God sees it all, and will not let evil run forever. When He says "stop!" it must stop. When He says "peace, be still," the wind and waves must obey. For some reason I guess I think God has somehow missed seeing all the evil going on, just because He is (for now) allowing it to continue. But not so. He HAS seen it all. Even more than I've seen. And just because He's biding His time waiting for the right moment to take care of things does NOT mean He is ignoring it or unconcerned or uncaring or unloving. I guess I forget that He's my Heavenly Father, and in the same way my daddy would sometimes bide his time, wait for the right moment to step in on something, my Heavenly Father has His own reasons for watching and waiting, and will step in at the right moment.
"I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. He's going to end up with nothing and no one. No one from his family will be around to see any of the good that I am going to do for my people because he has preached rebellion against me. 'God's Decree.'"
"I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed. 'God's Decree'. I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you - 'God's Decree' - bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it."
"They won't get away with a thing. I've witnessed it all." Eeks! The passage just preceding this statement is... well, shocking. But sounds eerily like what I see in my world today. What a comfort to know that God sees it all, and will not let evil run forever. When He says "stop!" it must stop. When He says "peace, be still," the wind and waves must obey. For some reason I guess I think God has somehow missed seeing all the evil going on, just because He is (for now) allowing it to continue. But not so. He HAS seen it all. Even more than I've seen. And just because He's biding His time waiting for the right moment to take care of things does NOT mean He is ignoring it or unconcerned or uncaring or unloving. I guess I forget that He's my Heavenly Father, and in the same way my daddy would sometimes bide his time, wait for the right moment to step in on something, my Heavenly Father has His own reasons for watching and waiting, and will step in at the right moment.
"I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. He's going to end up with nothing and no one. No one from his family will be around to see any of the good that I am going to do for my people because he has preached rebellion against me. 'God's Decree.'"
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