Midnight Thoughts

I was reading my Bible (No, don't stop reading now) when I came across a passage that I have read on many occasions but saw it in a completely different light today. It is in the book of Jeremiah 29:10-14. God through the prophet Jeremiah promised to deliver all the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon....well actually, He said He would keep His good  promise to them and visit them. He talked about HIS plan for them, to give them a hope and a final outcome. All these words must be sweet to hear for people exiled in another land and those held captive or perhaps they met the prophecy with absolute scepticism in the light of the difficulty they were facing . Only that there was a twist.... It will happen when seventy years have been completed. This is where I begin to wonder ....why? He is not lacking in ability or resources and could have done it immediately: cast blindness on the captors, change their language like he did in Babel, turn them on one another and release the Jews to go back to Jerusalem? But no! That is not his plan - It will happen in 70 years, oh dear! As if that is not enough, they are to call upon him and seek his face and require him as a vital necessity! Excuse me, in captivity? OK, lets get this straight, He allowed them to be taken into captivity because of their sins. He could have left them there to die, seized the opportunity to wipe them away from the face of the earth, use them as an example of the outcome of disobedience and raise a new people to serve Him but He didn't. 

But there's some comfort... He will be found if they search with all their heart  (AMP, vs 13). He promised to gather them from all the nations they have been scattered and driven to all over to the place for which He caused them to be taken captive from. That tells me something about the person of God, inspite of our disobedience and His chastisement, He still cares about what happens to us in the end. It's like telling your child that the consequences of his disobedience will not be waived but it does not stop your love for him.

So even when I am in the place of my "captivity", bound by my negative thoughts, unbelief and subtle lack of faith in God's abilities and sometimes, outright disobedience leaving me emotionally sapped and tired, He is still sending me messages... I am not alone, He has plans for me and even I cannot have better plans for myself... Seek me,  inquire for me, want me and you will find me.  Lord, I will obey and I thank you!