How to Live When Life Isn’t What You Wanted

What do we do when we find ourselves in a place we don’t want to be? Jeremiah 29 addresses this very topic. It contains a letter from the prophet Jeremiah to the Judean people who were forced to leave Jerusalem and were now living in Babylon. We see that it was ultimately God who carried them into exile because of their disobedience. The letter offers surprising instructions to those living in exile on how to live in a place they did not want to be. God had plans to restore them to their homeland in Jerusalem, but not for 70 years. In the meantime, they were told to settle down, seek peace, and pray for the city. They were told to marry, have children, build houses, and plant gardens (29:5–6). The people of Judah certainly found themselves to be in a place they didn’t want to be, yet God would promised to renew their hope even while they were in exile. In the same way, life is sometimes not what we hoped it would be. Like the Judeans in Jeremiah’s day, we must remember that there is purpose in our placement.