October 24, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 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. 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.’ Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, 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. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord.‘“

(Jeremiah 29.4-9)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Here is a follow-up thought for yesterday’s reflection which spoke to me this morning as I reread this passage of scripture this morning. God warned the Jerusalem exiles to not make themselves susceptible to others by pursuing their own dreams first. God knew that many of those exiles with honest longing for home, friends and the familiar, would do anything to make those dreams come true. We all have experienced it ourselves especially in times of trouble and challenge. It is that longing for “the good old days.” I will offer it again to us all as a means of perspective and use the history of Israel as evidence: it was because of our thoughts and actions in those “good old days” that we are where we are today! Have you ever asked yourself the question “What would I be willing to do to get all of that back?” Trust me, there are those out there listening who will tell you what you want to hear hoping you will believe in their promise and give anything, if not everything, for it. In today’s world, we see the evidence in the social media “snake oil” vendors. You don’t think so? How many products, schemes, dreams are presented with layers of search required of you “for a price”? There really is no magic elixir or fountain of youth or whatever it is that people want to get back what they lost or to possess what they only dream of becoming! It was true back in the days of those exiles and in the days leading up to their exile. The options may have been more limited than they are today because they had no “social media” to speak of. But there were plenty of messengers with listening ears and a dark heart and mind ready to spin the truth in order to turn the dreams and longing of some into gold for themselves. It was big business. It was no bigger a business than in the seats of the Temple and the steps of those who professed to be priest, prophet and were “profiteers.” God warned the exiles, “Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them [the prophets and diviners] to have.“

God wasn’t finished there with that advice. God goes further and said “They are prophesying lies to you. I did not send them.” Are we able to take from that that their dreams were lies, too? Did you catch the antithetical vocabulary God spoke in warning the exiles in that last verse? Prophesying lies. “To prophesy” means to tell the truth about the future based on the current circumstances. God’s prophetic word did not present some “pie in the sky” dream. God’s word cut straight to the heart of the matter with both promise and command. God’s word is never one-sided. Too many want to believe God is theirs to command and make no promises themselves. Oh, we know of those times when in desperation someone might say “If you [God] will do this, then I will do that.” For example, they will pray “God, if you will not let me drown, then I will go back to church every Sunday.” Really? Do you think their church attendance actually increased when the life raft floated by and they were pulled to safety? They may have given more thanks to those manning the oars and life preservers and chalking it up to coincidence or luck than to honor the promise they made to God. Why should they honor their promise when it was, in their opinion, not a command performance by God? It reminds me of the story of a man who drowned in a flood and blamed God for it. While he was waiting for divine intervention (stopping the rain or holding back the waters) a pickup truck came by and offered to drive him to safety, later a man in a boat offered him the same and finally when the water was so high it led him to his own rooftop to escape a helicopter came by to lift him up. Each time, however, he said “God will save me.” When he came before God it was with a complaint of God’s failure to deliver. God said in return, “I sent you a pickup, a boat and a helicopter; what more did you need.” God is faithful to deliver what we need. That was the intent of Jesus teaching which said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He is faithful to provide what is needed.” Notice Jesus did not say God was faithful to provide what we wanted. Many of the things we “want” are not necessary nor beneficial nor God-honoring. Jesus also did not say that God was faithful to provide us with that for which we dreamed. Our dreams are often strange and convoluted coming to us in our sleep. We dream of things we might never want to experience. These are not the dreams mentioned in this scripture. Those dreams mentioned are the storyboards of our mind where we design what we want to see over and against the reality of it. They are not prophetic. They are “wishful thinking.” They are lies which God does not intend to honor. His will alone be done. He will do as He promised. He desires for us to do the same and step into His reality for our lives. This was His hope for His people, especially those Jerusalem exiles, that by doing His will the whole world would know of His excellent mercy and greatness. That is what we should be dreaming of and committing ourselves to in these very hours, days, seasons and age! Know what God is sending. He has sent “the way, the truth and the life” which is our salvation. He has sent us Jesus the Christ. He will send Him again to gather His own to Himself. Will we be one of that number or will we remain forever in exile?

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.