seeking God well when all is not well

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

This isn’t a verse about earnestness in worship. This is a verse about acceptance of the will of God when we don’t really like it. In the past two chapters of Jeremiah, God has confronted the Jews for their willingness to believe false prophets offering false hope. God revealed to the Jews through his prophet Jeremiah that it was His will for Nebuchadnezzar to lead Babylon to subjugate not only Judah, but all the Middle East. He warns them that any person claiming to be a prophet who says otherwise was telling a lie. Yet the people persisted in resisting Babylon’s control. The false prophet Hananiah even told Jerusalem that an “early end date” was coming for Babylon’s occupation. Hananiah died for his lie at God’s own prediction.

Instead of fostering resentment at their situation, God comforts His people with a promise that if they would only go peacefully to Babylon, cooperate with their captors, He would prosper them there. They could raise families, know a level of security and peace, and patiently wait for God’s work in His time to bring them back out. In the meantime they could seek the blessing of God for Babylon as they worshiped the Lord there (Jeremiah 29:7).

This is the context for this call to wholeheartedly seek the Lord. It meant accepting that God’s plan was not their plan. It meant trusting that God could make of their captivity a peaceful, protected place. It meant asking God to prosper Babylon so that they themselves could do well. This is how God was to be sought with all their hearts. No bitterness over the burned ruins of Jerusalem could control their emotions. No comparison to the past should doubt God’s good care of His people. No debating the wisdom of God’s plans in response to unprecedented turmoil could dominate their days. Instead, a calm faith in God’s guidance in the unfamiliar, intimidating, humbling situation in which they found themselves would keep their hearts safe in trusting God.