Living in Exile
Rethinking Our Assumptions About God and Adversity
“I wasn’t fired. I was rescued.”
I will never forget hearing my friend say these words. They marked a significant shift in her thinking. Where she had been stuck in shame and grief, she was emerging with newfound clarity. This kind of insight often happens in hindsight—a gift afforded by time and distance. My friend’s new perspective didn’t come quickly or easily. It was hard-won, a tooth-and-nail fight for faith. She was bloodied and bruised but not broken.
The life of faith isn’t for the faint of heart. It is a muscle to be exercised, or it atrophies, and nothing strengthens it quite like adversity. Suffering refines us. It exposes our false assumptions about God and the life of faith. Many of us know the truth about God. But we operate from the assumption that when life is going well, God is pleased with us, and when it is not, God is displeased or even punishing us.
This kind of thinking can be debilitating when facing difficulties. It sends us on an emotional and spiritual rollercoaster that rises and falls based on our circumstances. That is why I am a huge proponent of reading through the Bible chronologically—at least once. Reading smaller passages or specific books of the Bible is worthwhile. It’s like breakfast—nourishing and sustaining us. But reading through the entire story of Scripture in historical order is like sitting down to a feast. It gives us a broader perspective and helps us see the overarching narrative of God’s relentless pursuit of and provision for his people. It also challenges our reductionistic views of who God is and how he operates.
I experienced that recently as I was reading Jeremiah 24:1-10 and Jeremiah 29. These passages find their context in centuries of Israel's continued idolatry and rejection of the Lord. Time and again, God pursues his beloved Israel. Yet, time and again, she rejects him and refuses to listen. In these two passages, God reveals his plan to Jeremiah. Many will be taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, where they will remain in exile for 70 years. But others will remain in the Promised Land in Jerusalem—the place of God’s presence with his people.
God gives Jeremiah a vision of two baskets of figs—one good, one inedible (24:3). These baskets represent two groups of God’s people—the one being led into captivity and the one remaining behind in Jerusalem. It would be easy to assume that the basket of bad figs represents the group being led into captivity, exiled from their homeland and the place of God’s presence.
But that isn’t the case.
“Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will keep my eyes on them for their good, and I will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God because they will return to me with all their heart” (24:4-7).
However, God knows that life in exile under a foreign king may cause his people to despair, so he delivers a message of hope through Jeremiah.
“When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. For I know the plans I have for you…plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (29:10-11).
We are likely familiar with Jeremiah 29:11. It’s often found artfully displayed on everything from bookmarks to wall art. But in the context of these passages, it was not a sweet devotional verse to make us feel warm and fuzzy. It was a substantive promise for God’s people to cling to when everything told them to believe otherwise.
It was, in essence, God saying, “You may be in exile, separated from the Promised Land and the land of your ancestors. You may be subject to a foreign king in a pagan nation. You may have been taken from your home and carried to a land you did not know. And you will be there for seventy years. Some of you may even die before I gather you and bring you back to the Promised Land. In light of this, you may be tempted to believe I have abandoned you. But I know the plans I have for you. I plan to prosper you, not harm you. I am preserving you for a future hope.”
God knew the hardship facing his people and the assumptions they would make. So, he encourages them not to judge their future in light of their present. He even instructs them not just to endure but to thrive in their new circumstances:
"Build houses... Plant gardens... Find wives... Multiply there; do not decrease. Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to.” (29:5-7)
In the meantime, he promises to hear and respond to them when they call him. And he promises that a time will come when he will gather them up and restore them to the Promised Land (29:12-14).
But as for the bad figs, God says:
“I will make them an object of horror and a disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, an example for disgrace, scorn, ridicule, and cursing, wherever I have banished them. I will send the sword, famine, and plague against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors” (24:9-10).
Who were the bad figs? The ones who remained in Jerusalem. In the Promised Land.
God repeatedly sent them prophets, warning them and calling them to return to him. But they were obstinate. They refused to listen. Instead, they chose to believe the false prophets who proclaimed that all was well and promised that no harm would come to them (Jeremiah 6:14, 23:11). So God set them apart for his judgment for their wicked ways and idolatry.
It would be easy to assume that those navigating life in exile were the ones under God’s judgment, while the ones remaining in the Promised Land were experiencing God’s favor. But this narrative in Jeremiah flips that thinking on its head. Much of Scripture does.
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, and falsely accused and imprisoned. But God was using him to establish the nation of Israel in Egypt, where they would prosper for many years.
God led the nation of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt through the desert instead of a more direct route through the land of the Philistines. The desert presented many hardships. But God knew that if they faced war with the Philistines, they may be tempted to return to the land of their slavery.
Esther was forced to marry a foreign king. But God was putting her in a unique position as queen—enabling her to intervene for the Jewish people and save them from destruction.
What makes times of exile even more difficult is that those who still inhabit the Promised Land also make assumptions. Those who remained behind in the Promised Land likely believed the exiles were being punished. They were lulled into thinking they were the ones in right standing with God. When, in fact, the opposite was true.
We see the same thing happen in the book of Job. After Job suffered catastrophic loss, his friends began to question his faithfulness to the Lord. Surely, the adversity he was experiencing was God’s judgment? Only it wasn’t. Job was caught up in a cosmic battle between the Lord and Satan. And his friend's inaccurate assessment of his circumstances only added insult to injury.
Because we have the benefit of looking back on Israel’s history, we see how God was at work even in times of trial. But we are not afforded that same vision in our own lives. Instead, we inhabit the murky middle. Israel’s story helps reorient us to our own stories. It reminds us that, like the exiles from Judah who couldn’t see what God was doing, we also can’t see the big picture in our own lives.
As the adage says, it’s often hard to see the forest for the trees. When we are in the throes of adversity, it isn’t easy to see beyond our circumstances. During these times, we are vulnerable to believing lies about who God is and how he operates. These passages in Jeremiah warn us about making assumptions. We may be in the Promised Land, but that doesn’t mean we’re in right standing with the Lord. Likewise, we may be in exile, but that doesn’t mean God is punishing us or has abandoned us.
If you are facing adversity right now:
1. Resist drawing conclusions based on your circumstances.
What feels like punishment might be preservation
God doesn’t operate according to our finite understanding, so resist reductionistic views of him.
2. Remain curious and humble.
What might God want to teach you in this season?
How might he be growing your faith?
How might he be revealing different aspects of himself to you in this season?
3. Remember past adversity.
What assumptions have you made during previous seasons of hardship?
Looking back, how can you see God’s hand actively orchestrating circumstances for your good?
Remember this: what first seemed like God's rejection and punishment through captivity and exile was, in fact, his merciful rescue and preservation.
The hardship you face now may be foundational to the good thing God is doing.
Love you guys,
CC
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Timely and applicable. Thank you
I loved this!