Exile is only temporary

I have a friend who is going through a pretty rough time right now, but she’s getting closer to the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Though the situations differ greatly, thinking about her brought to mind a time in my life just a little over a year ago when I thought the light at the end of my tunnel was too far out of reach.

That night, after Gunter had been stomped down by chemotherapy for months, and with several more treatments to go, I hit my emotional rock bottom. As he slept fitfully, I sat on our den floor and squalled. I felt so desperate, so sick of it all and terrified at the thought that it might not end with these 12 treatments. The frustration led to stress on our relationship and some communication gaps that I was having trouble dealing with.

I grabbed my Bible and turned to one of Gunter’s favorite verses, Jeremiah 29:11. I had heard the verse quoted many times, but I had never realized the situation it spoke to nor the verses surrounding it. Here is what I read that night:

“For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you, and bring you back to this place.

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’” Jeremiah 29:10-14

I know it was a promise to God’s chosen people regarding the Babylonian captivity, but that night, it might as well have had my name on it. I knew that exile wouldn’t last forever and that we would be restored.

Life has more hard times in store, I’m sure, but they won’t last forever. That’s what kind of a God we have – One who wants to give us a future and a hope, no matter what our particular “exile” is. We might not all get back to the Promised Land at the same time (Daniel spent the rest of his days in Babylon), but His people all have future and a hope nonetheless.