A Future and a Hope in Exile – Love in the Wilderness
A devotional reflection on Jeremiah 29:10-14 living in the present while hoping for the future
Here is a devotion to start your day!
A spoken version of this devotion is available through the Still, Here audio reflections podcast.
Scripture: Jeremiah 29:10–14
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.
Reflection
We often quote, “I know the plans I have for you…” as if it were written to people on the brink of promotion or breakthrough. In reality, these words come to exiles—displaced people living far from home, under foreign rule, wondering if they have ruined everything.
God does not promise an immediate escape. He tells them to build houses, plant gardens, marry, and seek the peace of the city where they live. In other words, settle in. Then He gives the promise: after seventy years, He will bring them back. His thoughts toward them are for peace, to give them hope.
Hope, here, is not denial of present hardship. It is trust that their story is not over. Even in exile, God is still writing. Their failures and losses are real, but they are not final.
Many of us live in our own versions of exile—seasons where nothing looks like we imagined, where consequences or circumstances have carried us somewhere we never planned to be. The season of Lent whispers this truth: God’s plans for peace and hope reach even here.
Love in the wilderness invites you to live faithfully in the “now,” without giving up on the “not yet.”
A Prayer of Presence
God of exiles and homecomings,
Meet me in the places I never meant to end up. Remind me that my story is not finished
and that Your thoughts toward me are for peace, future, and hope. – Amen
Practice for Today
Name one “exile place” in your life—somewhere you feel out of place, delayed, or disappointed. Ask God for one small, concrete way to “plant a garden” there: an act of faithfulness or engagement, even before anything changes.
Consider This...
How have I been tempted to disengage or despair in my present “exile,” and what might it look like to seek God and live faithfully right where I am?
Carry This Prayer With You
Breathe in: Give me hope…
Breathe out: … even in exile
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