Jennifer's Video 2 Summary

From Jennifer:

Now that you’re through the first week of Haggai and you’ve been through the ABC’s, exile is over and rebuilding begins.

But, not so fast!

Exile was part of the Jew’s backstory, and often it is part of our here and now story too. So we talked about what to do “while you’re in exile.”

We began our discussion with a quick backward glance to Israel and Judah's experiences of major exiles.

For the history buffs, here you go!

In 597 BC, the Babylonians exiled the elite members of society in Judah, including the prophet Ezekiel. They were dragged off to Babylon as predicted by the prophet Jeremiah. And, then there’s our people! In 586 BC Babylon shows up again, destroys the temple, and hauls off most of those who remained in Judah. For the Jewish people, living in exile gave them little to sing about. “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” Psalm 137:4 No wonder the Jews were singing the blues, right? Living outside the Promised Land, without the temple, Jewish exiles felt removed, alone, disenfranchised. And, that’s how we feel too if we find ourselves in exile, right? We have all known seasons of exile, in one form or another. When we feel removed from the familiar, disenfranchised from what made us feel secure, banished from the stability we once felt, that’s when we feel like we’re in exile. Put simply, when we feel we’re cut off from the promises of God and stuck in a foreign place, we are smack-dab in exile! Sometimes it's geographical exile … Sometimes you find yourself in another location, away from family. You’re removed from what you knew and loved; everything is unfamiliar and you feel insecure. Sometimes it's physical exile … Perhaps you’ve endured a season of pain and suffering physically. You’re fighting illness or disability. You feel alone on that island of “nobody understands” and “I can't do what I used to do.” It can also be invisible like anxiety or depression. You feel removed from the normal life you used to live. Secluded from the joy you once had. Sometimes it's relational exile… Maybe you find yourself alone. The one you love died. The one you married left. The kids you raised are no longer home and rarely call. The friends you had have gone their own ways. The BFF you hung with for years met a man and now you’re alone, missing her friendship. The man you long for hasn’t come. Or, maybe you are in a marriage and you feel overlooked and unseen. You feel like you are exiled to a lonely place you never thought you’d find yourself. You’re living in a foreign land of isolation. Exiles vary, but what they have in common is they are hard, unwelcome, confusing, and often test your faith. But, we were comforted that there is purpose in our exile. We discussed three possible purposes of exile. 1. Punishment: Okay, that’s not so comforting, at least at first glance. In 605 BC, Jeremiah predicted that Judah would fall to Babylon and be marched off into exile (Jeremiah 25:4-11). Exile was the result of the Jews’ disobedience. God used exile to discipline them. He allowed them to reap what they sewed. Sometimes that’s why we are in exile to. It may feel like punishment, but it is really discipline that God uses to train us and make us more like His Son (Hebrews 12:10–11).

2. Pruning Sometimes we don’t know the reason we are exiled. Life just happens. We live in a fallen world. But nothing is wasted. God can use it to refine us and grow us. Just like a gardener cuts off the sucker branches so the tree can become healthy and grow, God uses exile to prune us so we can keep growing. He mercifully removes us from that which sucks the life from us. 3. Proving When exile lasts a while, we wonder if God is testing us. But I like to think of exile as a chance to prove who we are, not test who we are. Just as laying a brick on a table proves the strength of a table, exile proves who we are and Who we gain our strength from. We finished up by unpacking Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles (Jeremiah 29) so we can know what to do when we’re in exile. Here’s the summary of what to do when you’re in exile: 1. Participate with your exile. Don’t try to hurry it up and wait to exhale. Instead, participate with it, invest in it. That’s what God told the Jews to do in Jeremiah 29:4-7. We talked about the importance of building and planting and increasing in relationships and praying for God’s best during exile. We may not be literally building homes, planting gardens and taking wives. But we can be all in, investing in our exile, and using it as a time to grow and increase in faith.

2. Pursue God in your exile. God warned in Jeremiah 29:8-9 not to fall for the lies of false prophets. In exile, we are vulnerable to pursue wrong things if we don’t pursue God wholeheartedly. We can fall for false prophets and false hope in exile. Our goal in exile is to “know Christ in fellowship of suffering” (Philippians 3:10). He is with us even in exile, so we want to pursue Him and press into His Truth.

3. Be patient with your exile. One of the few things that makes exile more tolerable is knowing it will end. But, sometimes exile feels like it has no expiration date and it’s hard to be patient. I shared with you what I learned from the most patient man I know, my dad: “Be patient with God, be patient with yourself, be patient with others, and be patient with the process.” Because, as Jeremiah 29:10 reminds us, exile does have an ending! And, until exile is over, we hold onto the promise of Jeremiah 29:11, trusting God has a hope and a future for us no matter what!

So, just like those little yellow duckies I told you about, go with the flow even when you don’t know where the current of God’s will will carry you. Participate with your exile, pursue God in your exile, and be patient with your exile … ride the waves, my friend. Exile won’t last forever but God’s faithfulness will. And all the sisters said … amen! Love,

Jennifer Rothschild