seek the welfare of the city

The last couple of weeks I have impacted by a passage in Jeremiah, chapter 29, verses 4-14.

To begin with the part that jumped out at me was v 7, 'seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on it's behalf, for in it's welfare, you will find you welfare'. I was convicted because, I realised that I hardly ever think to pray that way. I may pray for particular people, groups, initiatives, areas at times, but do I actually pray for the welfare of the town where I live? do you?
So, I began to read and re-read this verse and the surrounding verses. This section of scripture is a prophesy spoken by the prophet Jeremiah to the Israelites as they were swooped off to Babylon having been captured and exiled there. What a challenge for them! They are told to pray for the places that they have been thrown into for it to prosper, to know peace, to increase and become great. Not many of us can imagine the reality of being exiled into a culture and community you know nothing about. Most of us have in some way had a choice about where we live. Yet, even if you haven't, you are still to pray for the best for the place where you live.

Not only are the Israelites instructed to pray for where they live because it will be of benefit to them in the long run, but they are also instructed in the earlier verses to; build, settle, plant, eat, give, get married, increase and invest in the younger generations. Even if you're not passionate for the place where you live, are you investing in it? are you putting down your roots because God has put you there? Are you making something of the life you have, are you building and planting? We all have something to offer the community we live in, are you settling in and making a home where you are? God has carried you to this place, and God invites you into His mission there, and part of it is about getting stuck in; working, playing, making a home and just living life.

After God instructs the Israelites to do this, then He commands them to pray. Different interpretations of v7 tell us that we are to pray for our town's; wellbeing, good, prosperity, peace and welfare. God promises that as we do that, it will be good for us. it will be good for us practically and spiritually because as we pray for what God wants, we connect with Him, and we connect more with where we live. I believe as we pray, we will see breakthrough, we will see change, and God will show us how we can be a part of the good for the communities we are in.

Later on in this passage, the Lord God Almighty makes some amazing promises, He says that; He will come, He will cause you to prosper and not be harmed, He will give you hope and a future. Also that when you seek Him, He will listen and He will be found. Do you want that for yourself? Do you want that for where you live? If so, get praying!

God is ready to work where you live - are you?

God wants to partner with you in the place He has carried you. He has expectations of what you should do there, and that is basically to get on with life, but also to pray for where you live to do well. You can be the answer to the town's troubles, and it all starts with prayer.

Jeremiah 29:4-14 (NIV);

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: *5*“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. *6*Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. *7*Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” *8*Yes, this is what the LordAlmighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. *9*They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Prosperity and Adversity

'In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.' 
Ecclesiastes 7:14.

Solomon seems to like to make comparisons with opposing ideas. We have had death and life, mourning and celebration, now we have prosperity and adversity. Times of celebration and success versus times of trouble and struggle.

Solomon points out that prosperity and adversity BOTH come from God. We don’t really like to think of it like that do we? We quite happily accept that prosperity - all the good things, come from God, but adversity, all the bad things, too? God is good, right? So why would He allow the struggle and strife?

How do you feel about the fact that God brings success and calamity? Prosperity AND adversity?

We can see this demonstrated in the book of Job. Job, a faithful follower of God, devoted to Him even, suffers great calamity as his whole family dies, he loses all of his material possessions and then suffers physically too.
We see a conversation occurring about Job where the devil and God chat about him, and God gives permission for the devil to carry out these adverse times for Job. God has given authority for these things to happen. Why?
Why does God do that?

God ordains success and failure. He allows adversity as well as prosperity.
How does that fit with your perception of who God is?

Does your perception of God change whether you are in times of adversity or prosperity?
We tend to thank God for one and pray to get out of the other. We all want a relatively easy, happy and successful life.  We don’t want to suffer like Job, we don’t want to be alone, abandoned by friends, poor and hurting.
Yet, if you are, does it mean you have any less faith than anyone else? Does it mean that God has abandoned you? Doesn’t love or care for you?

The road to prosperity can often come through adversity.

How do we become prosperous? Is it by receiving the good things all the time? Getting our own way? Living the dream? Isn’t there some suffering that usually comes along before a breakthrough?

Well, let’s go back to Job, he had more than his fair share of adversity don’t you think? Yet, he held on, he kept his faith, I don’t know if I would of come through as assured of my own integrity and God’s existence as Job did. He truly held on to faith through the most appalling times. We can read the whole book in a matter of hours, but the whole season of life must of spanned years. Maybe you read this today and can relate to Job - years of strife and struggle with you holding on. If that is you - WELL DONE. You have achieved faith in greater measures than some of us will ever know. Like Job, you have endured and overcome great trials, and you have stuck with it.
Your time of prosperity will come - Job had all things restored in greater measure than he had before. God increased Job and his ministry because of his faithfulness. Yes, Job had a wobble and questioned God - he had a moan - who wouldn’t in that situation?! I admire Job. He endured, he questioned himself and his faith, yet he always knew the goodness of God was a reality. He grew in his understanding of who he was and who God is through it all. We know the end story of Job, but we don’t now the end story of our adversity. So, how will you handle it?
Will you hold on even if suffering lasts for years and you lose all you have? Will you trust in God even when He doesn’t seem to answer? Will you continue to believe in Him if God makes you go through it rather than escape it?

Times of prosperity are great, they are enjoyable and feel fulfilling, yet it’s the times of adversity that show the true colours of our character. There are areas in which we all need to grow and we know it, adversity is a great time to be stretched and grown even if we don’t like it. Adversity teaches us things, and can develop our faith if we set our heart to depend on God no matter what. Job did. He did not give up believing, he held firm and he was rewarded. Times of adversity can strengthen our faith, yes we have to persevere, we have to trust, we have to make the difficult decisions sometimes, but the end will be worth it for we DO serve a good God. He does want what s best for you, and sometimes that’s not having everything that you want. Sometimes that’s you being stretched, torn apart and rebuilt again. It’s painful, yet it is also a time of great richness. A richness of growth and dependence not on our own self, but on the One who sees the beginning and the end.

God brings prosperity and adversity, He knows what He is doing. We need prosperity, times of success, achievement and joy - we can turn our happiness into praise and gratitude, and we also need times of dependence and being at the end of ourselves otherwise what is our faith?

So in, ‘prosperity be joyful’ - appreciate the goodness, success, wealth given to you, be grateful for it and acknowledge it. It is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is to be enjoyed.
In, ‘adversity consider’ - contemplate the purpose of this time, your responsibility in it, what you should do. What part of your character is being reshaped right now? Is there something you are learning about yourself or God?