Submitting to God's Will: Jeremiah 29

Are we ready and willing to submit to the will of God no matter the situation?  Let's take a look to see how Jeremiah was willing to submit in Jeremiah 29.  The will of God punished the Jews in Jerusalem for their turning away from the one true God to serve false gods. Now they have been taken captive by Babylon. Jeremiah is given a message by God to deliver to the Jews enslaved in Babylonia. At this time everything Jeremiah knew had been destroyed. God gives him the following message in Jeremiah 29:4-7: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace." God says "to seek the peace of the city." Seek the peace of the city that came and destroyed you, your people, and your land. Would you and I be willing to submit to the will of God in this situation? Would we preach the message Jeremiah delivered to his people? Jeremiah submitted to the will of God and we must be willing to do the same.

Men like Adoniram Judson, who endured much pain and persecution from the very people he was trying to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, were willing to submit to God's will. Does this not sound eerily familiar? Jesus was also persecuted by the very people He was seeking to save. His own did not receive Him (John 1:11). Jesus perfectly submitted to God's will to the point of death (Mark 14:36). Jesus said that if they persecuted Him, then His followers would be persecuted as well (John 15:20). Jesus always sought the peace of the city. It was from the exaltation of the cross that Jesus cried out "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). Are we ready and willing to submit in this manner to the point of death? Women like Charlotte "Lottie" Moon, who was willing to give her food away so that others could hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, were willing to submit to the will of God. They understood that this life is not about comfort, but instead it is about exalting the name of Christ among all nations. Are we willing to radically submit in this way? Do we treasure Christ above any comfort of this world in a way that we are ready to radically submit like our Savior?

Then we reach the famous verse in Jeremiah 29:11 where God says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." God says that He has a plan and a hope to offer to those who feel as though they have no hope. This verse is delivered in the midst of captivity. What is the future and hope that God has planned for His people?