A long time ago, maybe fifteen years or so, my friends invited me to watch a movie with them. I didn’t check on which movie was playing—who even cared? We settled in, giggling, with popcorn and candy. Then I lifted my eyes to the screen and saw the most terrifying previews of horrible things I had never even imagined—in the previews! I knew for certain that I was not going to stay in my seat, essentially paying my money and my time to be tormented.
The fun and the danger of the world are balanced on a thin line. I wouldn’t have forfeited my eternal soul by viewing such a harrowing film. God isn’t going to yank away my salvation because of a party I went to in college, but our little everyday decisions do set the course of our life. It’s tempting to follow the course of the world and leave the course of godliness for another day.
This passage foretells the judgment God brought against the Babylonian empire. We see its fulfillment in the Medo-Persian conquest of Babylon during the time of Daniel. While Babylon feasted, the Medes and Persians invaded and toppled the wicked and unsuspecting empire.
While there is specific fulfillment historically recorded, we also see with great clarity the character of God and His judgments against wickedness itself. As God called His people to depart from wicked Babylon, so He has always called us to be set apart from the world. While we are in the world, we are not of it. We are called to be a peculiar people, a holy priesthood set apart for good works (1 Peter 2:9).
Jeremiah’s call to separate from Babylon is set amidst an overwhelming series of warnings and foretellings of doom. The destruction of Babylon is coming, an unstoppable and devastating judgment. Here we see God’s righteous character, which cannot ignore the wickedness of the world; again and again, He condemns them for their idolatry. He will punish their “carved images” because “the LORD is a God of retribution; he will certainly repay” (Jeremiah 51:52,56). This idea of justice can make us a bit uncomfortable, but it is inseparable from the deliverance that God promises to those who trust Him. He cannot abide evil, because it is evil.
The lure of worldliness promises us gorgeous wealth, pleasure, and power. However, it will ultimately and inevitably result in the loss of what really matters. Lot was lured by the appeal of worldliness when he settled in Sodom (Genesis 13:8–11). It was in a rich land and offered ample opportunities for economic benefit, but as Peter reminds us, “as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:8).
God’s call to His people to flee Babylon is a call not only to flee final desolation that comes to a wicked and perverse culture, but also to flee from the tormenting of our souls by a close association with worldliness. On the other side of this warning, we also see a welcome promise. God doesn’t simply call us away from Babylon; He calls us to something:
“I will return Israel to his grazing land, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;
he will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.
In those days and at that time—this is the LORD’s declaration—one will search for Israel’s iniquity, but there will be none,
and for Judah’s sins, but they will not be found,
for I will forgive those I leave as a remnant” (Jeremiah 50:19–20).
His promise is this: while the world offers happiness it cannot fully deliver—not for long, anyway—we find in Christ every satisfaction. He calls us to a place of rest and goodness, where the stain and memory of sin itself has been removed. He is the Shepherd of Israel, who leads us to quiet pastures, and to streams of living waters (Psalm 23).
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40 thoughts on "The Return of God’s People"
Kathy–
I empathize with your situation. It is my last year teaching. I took my first personal day on the last day prior to our school’s shut down. Who knew?! Students I worked with in sixth grade and all of high school will be graduating this year, and all the plans to make their last quarter fun and memorable are evaporating. It is a trying time for all. But, we must remember Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.” My thoughts and prayers are with you–and all teachers, students, admin…
This is also my last year teaching and I left for spring break believing I’d have the last quarter of the year with my kids. I work at an alternative Christian school, so I’ve taught many of my students for all of high school and know them well. I do not know how to finish well and move across the country alone amidst a pandemic right now and could use prayer for peace and wisdom.
AGREEING, Ashley G!!!
Good morning, can I be honest? I do all of the SRT devotionals, and I am completing this one too. But going through Jeremiah, in this season, is really, really hard. I have read it before, many times, and it is a tough read, even though it is God’s truth. But it is especially hard right now. I am not sure I can name another Lenten Season when I was so desperately ready for Easter. Even though we will be isolated. Even though the world is scary right now. It will be EASTER! We will celebrate His resurrection and His victory over death!! Love to you all and I hope you hear my heart in this post.
I’m with you… and your heart is heard
Ashley, I’m right there with you. It’s been really hard for me to read and some days I skip the verses and go straight to the daily story and supplement with verses elsewhere…AND I think that’s totally OK. Sometimes we need comfort in the Lord like verses we read in Psalm and sometimes we need redirection in places like Jeremiah. I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you may be. Take care! Kim
I feel the same way. This time is HARD for all of us, and I have really just wanted encouragement and comfort when I read the Bible. But I’m sticking with it, because I know God’s word will not go void, and just reading extra psalms.
I hear you. Jeremiah is definitely a hard read. Yesterday, God reminded me that Jeremiah also wrote Lamentations. I read Lamentations 3 after I finished with the regular reading and the theme of God’s faithfulness amid the destruction and suffering Jeremiah experienced was evident. So I wrote my own lament. I sat in the grief and suffering we are experiencing, wrote to God how I was truly feeling and before I knew it Holy Spirit brought me back to his faithfulness. Nothing about the circumstances changed but I felt more free to lay my burden at the feet of Jesus and pick up a lighter yoke for my last day of quarantine after an exposure to someone with COVID. I feel like God gives us a peek at Jeremiah’s journal in the book of Lamentations. What we are reading in Jeremiah are the events and prediction of events but Lamentations is how Jeremiah processes the burden of those events and it is so comforting to know it’s ok and healthy to grieve and pour out everything to God. “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is His faithfulness.” ~ Lamentations 3:21-23
I can totally relate! This reading has been head, especially right now. It is great to know that Easter cannot be taken from us, even if it will be different.
This really has nothing to do with the book of Jeremiah, but please pray for all the teachers in Georgia. We are not alright. Gov. Kemp has closed all schools through the end of this school year. We will not be going back at all. I am devastated, especially for all my seniors. There really are no words. I sent them home on that last day sure that we would be back and now we’re not. I wish that I had given every one of them a big hug and told them how much I loved them and enjoyed having them in class.
Also, my daughter is expecting her baby any minute. She was due last Thursday but he has decided he is perfectly happy where he is. Please pray for safety and an uneventful delivery and that he gets here soon. Between this and the virus and now no school I go between totally resting in God to wanting to curl up into a fetal position. I am so thankful that we have all of His promises to never leave us or forsake us – to walk with us through every storm – to go before us – His love never fails.
Be safe and stay home!
Kathy, I can totally relate to you. I work at a school. I am not a teacher but the kids call me teacher LOL. I working kids care and a kindergarten program. I love my kindergartners! March 18 was our last day and only a handful of kindergartners were there. We were to return April 6 and it got extended to May 4th. But yesterday we received the email and text message that we are done for the year. I lost it. I miss those kindergartners so much! My daughter who’s been there since kindergarten will not have an eighth grade graduation ceremony. However the teachers are looking into having some sort of celebration in the summer.Through all this I know that God is in control! I am not angry with God. I just miss those kiddos! I will be praying for your daughter and the birth her her baby.
Praying for you, your daughter, and all the teachers of Georgia and all over the country as well. May he give you rest, and your daughter to have a great labor. I’m a Georgian too, and I have friends who are teachers, my heart goes out to y’all so much. ❤️
Kathy, we are going through the same thing here in Saskatchewan (Canada). My husband is a teacher in grades 7-12 and they are transitioning into providing supplemental material online for the remainder of the year. A very hard transition for him as he misses his kids and his fellow staff members. Praying for you today and this week as I pray for him! God is good and this too shall pass. All things to His glory even when we don’t understand why or how.
Praying for you, your students, and your daughter. This is such a hard season (I am also a teacher, and although our schools have not closed for the rest of the year here in NY, I am anticipating that they will). My heart breaks for the loss of what is “normal”. Those exciting end of the year activities that we look forward to when we are exhausted in the middle of the year. Praying for peace in our hearts as we (or I) struggle to put our trust in God in these difficult moments.
Hi Kathy,
My heart is with you in this post as Indiana made the same call yesterday, and I am still in shock knowing I won’t get to see my 5th graders go through their elementary school graduation. Praying for you- hoping schools across the nation will postpone graduation ceremonies for our seniors.
Lots of love,
Annie
Hi Kathy! I live in NYC so I’ve been on shutdown for a three weeks now. I am in a show in Broadway that recently opened and we don’t know when we will reopen. Know that God is grieving with you. You’re going to go through a grieving process. The first week is rough. You won’t be able to wrap your mind around how much life is changing and the enemy will try to destroy you and make you believe that it’s all over. The second week you’ll think it’s stupid, it you’re body will stop fighting and you’ll find rest (literally and figuratively). By the end of the second week you’re going to start dreaming of all the things you can do, with this new way of life. And week three it will start to feel normal.
Prepare for:
1. Tons of online chat rooms and FaceTimes with the people you love.
2. Tons of time in prayer (you won’t know what else to do)
3. Incredible dinners (I don’t even like to cook, but it’s what I look forward to most)
4. Sleep! You’re going to get a lot of rest.
5. Binged entertainment (what’s that movie, album, tv show, book you wanted to read again?)
6. Incredible time with the lord (I’ve got no where to go and he’s always here)
7. If you have housemates or a partner you are going to find a new rhythm together.
8. Out of the box fun. Download that new app all your students are using (TikTok), have a night of karaoke, watch that Instagram live, do that YouTube Zumba class.
9. Incredible walks outside. You will see the beauty of nature in a new way
That’s it for now! Message me if you need prayer of a thought. We are going to get through this together by staying home.
A little sign hangs on the wall outside our daughters’ bedrooms. “You usually end up in the direction you’re headed.” A simple truth. The choices we make bring consequences we can’t always foresee or imagine. But we usually do know if that initial step is in a good or wrong direction. Let us be wise at the beginning. God can certainly rescue us and deliver us from the poor choices we make but there is joy in the journey when we choose and stay on His path. His path is not always a bed of roses but we have the peace and joy that He walks with us. He never leaves or forsakes us. We are the ones prone to wandering. I pray we stay the course. I pray we remain faithful.
❤️❤️❤️
This a reminder to be focused and aware of who we are and how not to fit into this world for our true home is in heaven where we will not be tempted to follow others but be with and worst I our Lord and Savior.
Good morning, This study through the book of Jeremiah has given me a better understanding of the relationship between God and Israel. To see just how rebellious Israel was, the will they had to do life on their on terms was heartbreaking for me to watch. Looking from a hindsight view The love of the father way always present, but the blinders that kept them from receiving God love would not let Israel trust the ambassador of the day. When I look at the choices people are making today my heart is crying out to God on their behalf. I am even more thankful to God for his love towards us, He is a merciful and gracious Father who has never turned his back on us, but the time is running short now more than ever we the church have to be the Jeremiah of today! ; because we have been set apart, called of a royal priesthood and a peculiar people. We have to operate as ambassadors on out Lord’s behalf. My sisters we have work to do even as our lives are busy and overwhelming a lot of times we have to be about our fathers business. Let us remember we are in the world but not of the world.
Peace and Blessings
Amen Tanya! Well said.
Amen!!
The youth pastor preached about Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. He referenced the Scripture above. He believes pride is at the root of Lot’s choice and at the root of our sins. Here is a link if you want to watch: https://livestream.com/accounts/15306138/events/9060883