Fish Out of Water

Have you ever been somewhere far from home, where you don’t know anyone and you’re actually so far away that you don’t even know the culture, language, or customs of the people around you?  Between business trips, family vacations, and mission trips, I have traveled a bit in my day (although not nearly as much as some people).  While I greatly appreciate those who have learned to speak my language (since I have trouble learning others, despite many years of work), there are times when I have been on my own, struggling to communicate and handle basic activities.

One time, I remember ordering trout almondine at a restaurant in France, because it was the only thing that I could figure out on the menu that I was interested in eating.  While it was a good meal, I did not expect the fish to be looking back to me!  After piling some almonds on the face, I had to use some fish-filleting skills from my childhood to finish that meal.

Independently of meals, though, I can imagine different human reactions to being exiled (i.e., forcibly relocated) to a foreign country:

• Some people might choose to sabotage the country to which they were taken, working against the government and trying to bring harm to them.  Whether you call them freedom fighters, vigilantes, or terrorists, you probably have some idea of this sort of behavior.
• Other people might choose to isolate themselves.  Remaining in their neighborhoods with others from their home country, this group wouldn’t engage with anyone else outside of their own people.  In fact, one might make the case that this would actually be appropriate – to some extent – for God’s holy people
• Other people might choose to just blend in.  Resigned to their expected fate, this group becomes a part of the country where they now live, adopting the customs, practices, and perhaps even the religion of those around them.
• Still others might choose to put things on hold, expecting to return home soon.  These people don’t make any commitments and they don’t settle down.  They’re treating their new home as a temporary hotel stay, so they might not even unpack (at least metaphorically).

In a letter recorded in Jeremiah 29, God has a specific message for His people who are exiled in Babylon, and it might not look like what we expect.

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Jeremiah 29:4‭-‬7 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jer.29.4-7.NIV

I see a few implications here for the exiles:

Don’t expect to go home soon.  Settle down and get comfortable.  Residents of hotels generally don’t plant gardens, because there’s a long time involved in planting and cultivating before harvesting the results.  However, that’s what God tells His people to do here.

Don’t let God’s people – as a distinctive, holy group – die out.  Have kids and help them to have grandkids.  There are people today who don’t want to have children because they think that the world is going downhill and some sort of civilization-ending disaster will befall us soon.  I feel kind of bad for them, without the hope that those who trust in God can have.  However, you should know (and probably do know) that not only did God call Adam and Eve to populate the earth (see Genesis 1:26-28), He is also more than powerful enough to take care of both us and our descendants…although we still have the obligation to take good care of the world that He has given us to steward.

Don’t sabotage the Babylonians or pray for the city to experience harm.  Seek peace and prosperity for the city, because it’s where you live now.

Skipping down to verse 20, though, we find what might be the most important part of the message:

Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Jeremiah 29:20 NIV
https://jeremiah.bible/jeremiah-29-20

This is a simple message: “…hear the word of the LORD…”  Related to that, the last part of verse 23 is also an important reminder for all of us: God is “He who knows, and a witness”.

Remember that God’s plan might take you through a foreign land, whether physically or metaphorically.  If it feels like you aren’t currently home in the promised land, you may simply be yearning for something better in eternity.  However, while here on Earth, that path through a foreign land may be God’s way of preserving you (or His church in general) while the place we want to be experiences discipline, punishment, or calamity.

So, let us hear God’s word – His message to us.  Then, let us heed His word, as it warns us of what awaits those who do not follow God’s directions.

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From Sunday School lesson prepared for July 9, 2023

References:

• The Lookout, July 9, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
• Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• The College Press NIV Commentary – Jeremiah-Lamentations, by Timothy M. Willis.  © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.