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.” – Jeremiah 29:7
I had been looking for this verse in a book I’d just finished reading, but as I flipped back and forth I couldn’t find the reference. I actually wanted to include it today, and then, as I looked for a devotional it was contained in the very first source I checked out!
What do we mean by welfare? Synonyms might include well-being, security, safety, comfort, protection, fortune, robustness, and one site suggested abundance.
I wanted to go one further, and titled this using a word similar to improvement, the word betterment.
I found an excellent article by Doug Scalise at the website of Brewster Baptist Church. It was lengthy and included a number illustrations that we don’t normally have room for, so I’ve included just about a third of it. However, if you prefer, there’s also a half hour sermon version of today’s blog post available at the link in the header which follows. Either way, it flows better if you click the link!
Jeremiah – Seeking the Welfare of the Place You Live
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be a person in the Bible? What would it have been like to be someone like Hagar, Samuel, Isaiah, John, Mary, Elizabeth, or Paul? It might be an amazing experience, but I know I wouldn’t want to have been Jeremiah. He had a tough life
The Prophet Jeremiah was born 645 years before Christ and he began to be involved in public life at the age of twenty-two. His ministry and teaching reflect the influence of the prophets Hosea, Isaiah, and Amos. Forbidden by God to marry or have children; his truth-telling made him enemies and he had only a few loyal friends. He spent more than a decade of his life in prison, and died in exile in Egypt at the age of sixty…
…The book of Jeremiah came into existence during a tumultuous time. The little kingdom of Judah had the misfortune to be caught between two much stronger powers: Egypt to the south and Babylon to the east. In Jerusalem it was a tense time of political maneuvering with one faction being pro-Egypt and the other pro-Babylon. Jeremiah was in the Babylon camp. Judah’s kings and not surprisingly most of the prophets and priests leaned in the other direction. Jeremiah’s outspoken endorsement of the Babylonians as the instrument of God’s discipline led to charges of treason and that he was unpatriotic. Most of the prophets and priests associated with the temple opposed to Jeremiah. They said he was wrong that Judah wouldn’t be destroyed…
…Jeremiah chapter 29 begins with a letter from Jeremiah – stop for a moment and think about how amazing that is – we have a letter that is over 2,500 years old and we not only know who wrote it we know who delivered it! Here is the first part of it: Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles in Babylon Jeremiah 29:1-7
“29 These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar (neʹbuh-kuhd-nezʹuhr) had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah (jekʹoh-nīʹuh), and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan (shayʹfan) and Gemariah ((gem-uh-rīʹuh) son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said: 4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 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 word translated as “welfare” is the Hebrew word “shalom” which means peace, wholeness, and well-being. It might sound a little strange to hear God saying to people in exile, to people who are in a new place in life where they didn’t choose to go, where they don’t wish to be, “Make the best of where you are in life.”
Have you ever had to move to a new community, state, or country? If it’s our choice we probably feel very differently about relocating than if we’re taken and compelled to leave our home and forced to settle in a new place. Jeremiah’s letter goes on to tell the exiles that this is not a short term situation; they’re going to be there for 70 years.
So the Lord is telling the people, “Find meaning in your situation even in suffering; continue to choose life. Rather than growing bitter, resentful or cynical; seek the shalom – the success and prosperity of the place where you live.” Not only does God tell the exiles to make the best of a bad situation and to go on living, he even tells them to “pray to the LORD on its behalf.” I can imagine some of the exiles listening to Jeremiah’s letter and saying to themselves, “Is he serious? Pray to the Lord on behalf of the capital city of our enemy? Is he joking?” No he wasn’t. God’s people still struggle with biblical teaching like this even though it’s stated in a similar way by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount when he tells us to pray for our enemies and by Paul in Romans 12…
…I think this is true whether we’re in a new land or where we’ve lived all our life; whether we chose to move or had no say in being relocated; whether we moved because we had the freedom and ability to retire or because we had to flee for our life from danger; I believe the Lord wants us to seek the shalom of where God has led us and to pray on behalf of our community. In the world in which we live all these years after Jeremiah there are still those who are violent and selfish and those who are caring and seek to live in a way that serves and blesses others.
…As Christians…we’re called by God to pray and work for the welfare of the place where we live, wherever we are, even if it’s a place we’d never have chosen to be. Working and praying for the welfare of where God has placed us enables us to bear witness to the love and faithfulness of the Lord in our communities. “Promote the general welfare” is such an important a concept that the Committee on Style who wrote the preamble of the US Constitution included it in the introduction to that important document.
That is what Jeremiah is encouraging the exiles to do – promote the general welfare. Jeremiah tried to help the exiles to change their attitude in the midst of what was a terrible ordeal. He sought to direct their focus to shalom and prayer; to life, gratitude, and hope – things we should hold onto with all the strength and tenacity we can muster. Gratitude is how faith responds in remembering God’s faithfulness in the past; hope is how faith responds in trusting God’s faithfulness in the future…
Christianity 201 
Leave a Reply