<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11) KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve probably read this verse on graduation cards, heard it in a motivational sermon, seen it hanging on a decorative sign on a wall in someone\u2019s home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d never thought too much about where this quote was spoken in Scripture. I was surprised to find that it wasn\u2019t a positive reinforcement spoken over a godly person or people. In fact, it was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah over the Israelites while they were in bondage<\/em> in Babylon. He\u2019d just told them that the consequence for their idolatrous actions wasn’t going to end any time soon, that they would be under the iron yoke of Nebuchadnezzar for a long seventy years! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, put yourself in their shoes. They’re in a time of gross punishment in a foreign land. God is essentially letting them learn their lesson the hard way after many warnings. To make things worse, the false<\/em> prophet Hananiah had just told them they were going to be released<\/em> from their carrying away to Babylon to go back home. They’re joyful! Then steps in God’s man Jeremiah to say, “Nope!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine their disappointment. How they must have felt to hear that not only are they not going home; but, they’re going to be kept in that strange land for seventy years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these people were already older, which meant they would never again see their homeland. They had no hope of going back to their former life. Parents dealt with the reality that their sons and daughters wouldn’t be reared in the Promised Land. Children would grow up with only stories of the place from which they had come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here they are, disappointed and stuck in the consequence of their sin. They’ve just been put in their place; then, God speaks those famous comforting words,”…I know the thoughts that I think toward you…thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It feels like He’s saying, “Yes you’re here right now; but, it won’t be forever. I still love you in spite of what you’ve done. Yes, like a good father, I’m letting you endure the consequence of your sin so that you’ll learn your lesson; but, I still want good things for you.” Right there in the midst of their punishment in Babylon, God called them to build houses, plant gardens, marry, have children and seek peace. (Jeremiah 29:5-7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tells me three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) That when we mess up, there are consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) But also, when we mess up, God still loves us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) Finally, we can live a life of joy in the midst of our time of consequence\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the Israelites continued to be in Babylon; but, they also received God’s love right where they were. They found the merciful joy of the Lord in their circumstance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m sure the adults instilled in the littles a hope that one day they would see the Promised Land they had lost for them at the cost of sin….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And maybe that’s the best thing we can do when we go through times of consequences– share our faults with others who may be contemplating the kind of sin we just came through. When you’ve been through the fire, you don’t want to see others burned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, share your testimony. Make the most of your lesson learned to hinder others from making the same mistakes. Like the Israelites, use your consequence for good: build relationships, sow seeds, promote peace. Live life to the fullest with God while you ride out your circumstance. Your time in Babylon won’t last forever. You’ll sing and dance again in Zion. Your soul will be watered as a garden, and you’ll rejoice again instead of sorrow. (Jeremiah 31:12,13) Until we get there, our actions do have consequences; but, we too can experience God\u2019s love, joy and peace right where we are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11) KJV You\u2019ve probably read this verse on graduation cards, heard it in a motivational sermon, seen it hanging on a decorative sign on a wall in someone\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellspringwords.life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/joy.png?fit=1080%2C892&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":608,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions\/608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellspringwords.life\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}