During the past few weeks, we have all experienced loss──loss of hopes or expectations, jobs or stability, and some have even lost loved ones. This is a traumatic time that has left our once familiar world feeling foreign and strange. And in times like these, we may begin to question where God is in all of this. We see God’s people ask similar questions throughout the story of the Bible when they found themselves in times of fear and instability.This week we will ponder the story of Israel’s exile in Babylon, when God’s people lost everything they knew and loved and were forced into an unfamiliar world. This loss was devastating, but it also made them imagine new ways to be faithful to God and his promises to restore the world. In a similar way, we are all experiencing loss during the COVID-19 crisis, but perhaps there is wisdom and hope for us in these biblical stories of exile and restoration. | |||||||
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Daniel 1:1-21 Read here Daniel and his friends are exiled to Babylon and made to serve in Babylon’s royal court. They’ve lost everything they know and love and are forced into an unfamiliar world. Notice the balance they strike between resistance and cooperation, demonstrated by their adherence to the Israelite food-laws. Daniel is willing to serve Babylon, but not when it requires compromise in serving his God.
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Jeremiah 29:1-14 Read here Jeremiah writes a letter to a community of Israelites who were recently exiled to Babylon. He encourages them to settle in and build communities that seek the well-being of their captors. They are to seek peace and harmony not because they’ve given up, but because of their bold hope that God will rescue them and restore them to the promised land one day.
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1 Peter 1:1-2 Read here and 2:4-17 Read here Peter addresses followers of Jesus in the Roman empire, yet he calls them priests of God who are living in exile. He calls them to distance themselves from the value system of their surrounding culture, while at the same time being faithful to God and those around them.
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