Advent Day 8: Rejoice Anyway

 

Ezekiel, Daniel, and all the other captives taken to Babylon did exactly what God urged them to do through the prophet Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 29:4-7  4 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and live in them.  Plant gardens and eat their produce.  6 Take wives and have sons and daughters.  Takes wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters.  Multiply there; do not decrease.  7 Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to.  Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper."

Prosper in captivity.  Prosper when far away from the only home you've known, far away from the land of your ancestors.   Prosper.

And what a message to us when we're in the middle of things we can't get away from, when we're held captive by life circumstances.

It sounds like a hard message.  What about grief?   He doesn't say we cannot grieve what we've lost.  I think it's understood that when held by circumstances over which we have no control, we will grieve.  I think it's understood that we might complain.  He doesn't mention not complaining.  He does say to build houses (and heavens if that isn't a sign you're going to be captive for a while!), to plant gardens to not decrease and i that looks a lot like getting on with living life as though everything were normal doesn't it?

A message for the broken heart, the fearful anxious spirit, even for those who are numb with all the hard things of life hitting them.  Live life.  Get on with it.

Another prophet spoke of those captive  days ahead for the people of Judah.  His name was Habakkuk.  He might well be called an unknown prophet.  The book of Habakkuk is just three short chapters long, but it is the 3rd chapter which moves me beyond words.

Habakkuk 3:17-19  17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! 19 Yahweh my Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!

song:  I Will Rejoice  From Habukkuk3 Nathan George and Family

With men like Ezekiel and Daniel to inspire me, how can I do anything but take heart and prosper, whatever my circumstance?   And how can I enter into this season without joy?   

Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!