So Judah went into captivity away from the land. (Jeremiah 52:27)Jeremiah chapter 52 details the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. What took years to build, the fire and the battering ram took just days to destroy. King Zedekiah had been blinded, his children executed in front of him. The temple priests and gatekeepers were killed. So Judah went into captivity away from the land.
More than 600 years earlier Moses had declared: When you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul . . . then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you (Deuteronomy 30:2,3).
Once again we see a glimmer of hope beyond the present fog of despair. The truth is that no matter how lost we might be, no matter how far off track we may have wandered, there is always a way home.
In those days, at that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the Lord their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it (Jeremiah 50:4,5).
The blessing of exile is that makes us long for home.
Is it time for you to leave your exile and turn your face toward home?
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