A Place of Promise

Exile is not a word that we use a lot but do you ever feel like your in exile? Like you're in the place you never wanted to be or perhaps you are where you thought you wanted to be only to discover that it is not the perfect fit that you imagined? The sense that we are where we don't belong is a response to the fact that as believers in Christ that is our reality, we are in exile. We were not meant for this world of brokenness but we find ourselves in it surrounded by work places and cultures where brokenness takes on different forms. Each city, state, and country presents problems and evidences of lostness and each of them call for a response from us as the beloved of God. For the last two years I have made the mistake of being future minded. I have been living in one city mindful of the fact that I was leaving "soon" to make a home in another. By the time I do in fact leave this city I will have been here for two years, through most of which I was too distracted by the thought of leaving to invest in where I have actually been. In my last 6 months here I pray that the Lord uses me to do the good works which He has prepared for me to do in this city, looking back I wish that I had been faithful to this mission all along. Exile is not an excuse to not invest, because exile is not an accident on God's part. In a spiritual sense we are to anticipate being with the Lord while being fully invested in this life. In a physical sense we are to be active where the Lord has placed us knowing that we have been placed with purpose. Though we are to wait on the Lord and anticipate His direction, we are not to be idly awaiting new marching orders. We are not to be in a state of waiting for our lives to begin. Wherever you are in this present moment and this present place you have a purpose. He may be preparing you for a change but still He has something for you and for you to give where you are now. Jeremiah 29:7 says this, "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." The Lord's role in this verse is not passive. It says that He actively sent them into exile. While that is difficult, it is also encouraging. We are not where we are or as we are by accident. A second comfort found in this verse is that our welfare is never beyond the Lord's sight. We are in exile but if we seek the welfare of where the Lord has put us we will find our own welfare as well. God in his goodness has orchestrated all that He wills to do through your life and in your life with what is best for you. Further down in this same passage is Jeremiah 29:11 which says,"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future." We can live in the present seeking the welfare of the place we have been put, knowing that God almighty is building our future. When we realize and believe this truth exile ceases to be a place of emptiness and becomes a place of promise.