Seize the Moment – Day 899
A Future and a Hope!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, September 2.
Are you experiencing a season of exile because of unfaithfulness?
The Chronicler lists the who’s who of Jerusalem at the time of his writing in 1 Chronicles 9:4-34, with an important explanation in verse 1b, “Judah was carried away into exile to Babylon for their unfaithfulness.” He bookends his work with the explanation for why the people had been in exile in the first place in 2 Chronicles 36:14 – their forefather’s unfaithfulness to God! The Chronicler was calling for the remnant to respond to God’s gracious offer for a future and a hope, as promised in Jeremiah 29:10-13:
For thus says the Lord, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Tellingly, the Chronicler referenced Jeremiah’s prophecy in 2 Chronicles 36:21, “to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.” He was making it clear that all they had to do now was to repent by responding faithfully to God’s mercy to bring them back from exile.
Seize the moment and realize that you, too, are never too far from God’s grace, even if you are in a time of exile caused by unfaithfulness. God has a good plan for your life, for a future and a hope, so call upon Him today and pray to Him and He will listen and respond (Jeremiah 29:11-13).