“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” (Emphasis mine.)
One of the greatest promises—a promise God is in control and has a masterful future planned. This promise fits well on coffee mugs and desk plaques. We love it so much.
But, what do you think the people heard when this great promise was revealed by the prophet?
Again, it’s speculation on my part, but don’t you think when the people heard those words it was the “seventy years” of captivity they were about to face which jumped out to them more than the “future and hope“?
Yet, which do you think was God’s intent—to encourage or discourage? (Hopefully, you know the God who is love enough to answer correctly.)
Again, everything can be going according to plan. God can be working in your life, but one setback—one season of decline in church attendance, one negative email—can destroy your perception of reality. Common struggle.
This is why, as pastors, as leaders, as people of God, we must keep our mind and focus on the bigger picture. A focus on what God is calling us to do—what He is currently doing—and, ultimately, what He has promised to do—rather than the voices of the negative minority.
The Apostle Paul said it like this, “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
Who is brave and honest enough to admit I’m not alone here in this struggle?
