A Besieged City

To those of you who feel like your life has been under siege and you cringe when you read my happy go lucky blogs under the heading, Laughing Out Loud, I want you to know that I too have my days when I am under, rather than over. I’ve had years of being a besieged city in ruins and that is why I fervently speak about life after destruction. My life was a ruin that has been rebuilt after grave devastation.

None of us escapes seasons of captivity, because we are people who are prone to captivity. We are often more easily drawn to captivity it seems than the wide open spaces of freedom. We can’t help it. Let’s face it without Christ’s redemption we’re messes.

Jeremiah sent a letter to encourage all of the exiles during the time when King Nebuchadnezzer had taken captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. Included were skilled laborers, the regular folks, as well as government leaders and the queen mother the Bible says. It just goes to show you that whether you’re the queen mother or a regular Joe we all face our own captivities.

Jeremiah delivered a message to all of the exiles from God saying that He(God) had taken them into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon! He instructed them to build houses for themselves and plant gardens, marry, have children and make themselves at home, to thrive and not waste away even in their place of captivity. And He told them to pray for Babylon’s well being and when the time was up He’d take them home.

“I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won‘t be disappointed. ..I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.”

The mind of God is certainly a mystery that we will never fully understand, but for all intensive purposes, it seems clear that during these difficult seasons He’s after one thing. He wants us to pursue Him and want Him more than anything else.

We are so easily drawn into captivity. I'm thinking of all of the things that distract us from pursuing God. It is in those unbearable times of captivity that we run to God in our desperation. I know sometimes we have to get over being mad at the one who wounded us so deeply (God), but eventually we realize there is no where else to run and we let go of all that stands between us.

I had to struggle through that process when the Lord allowed my husband to die from cancer. I struggled through years of captivity, painfully waking everyday to face days that I didn’t want to face, making me desperate for God. And just like in Jeremiah’s God message to the exiles, when the time was right, God released me from my prison of pain and brought me out into a new place of freedom and peace. Because I witnessed Him bring me out of the tomb into a new life, I can with laughter and joy declare that He is an awesome God, faithful in all of His ways, even when we can’t begin to understand them. He loves us and works in all things for our good.