“WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED!”

Jeremiah 29:10-14                                                   (ESV)

“10 "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.

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12 Then YOU WILL call upon me and come and pray to me, and I WILL hear you.

13 YOU WILL seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

14 I WILL be found by you, declares the LORD, and I WILL RESTORE your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I WILL bring you back to the place from which I sent you INTO EXILE.”

The WORD OF GOD is precisely that, THE WORD GOD!  HE fulfills exactly what HE says HE will do, at exactly when HE says HE will do it!  In Jeremiah 29 the Israelites has been removed from the Promised Land because they were neglecting GOD’s instructions, which was to let the land “lay fallow” every seventh year.  They had done this for 490 years, so they has 70 years they “owed” GOD!  

Israel is GOD’s CHOSEN people, but that doesn’t mean that HIS CHILDREN get a free pass when obedience is in question.  Neither should we think that we get a free pass!  GOD says “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED”, THEN will I visit you and fulfill MY promise to bring you back to the Promised Land.  Jeremiah warned the nation of Israel “Do not let YOUR prophets and YOUR diviners who are among you DECEIVE you, and DO NOT LISTEN to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in MY name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 29:8-9). 

It is very easy to be deceived by the enemy and follow a dream that he places in our mind.  Satan will do anything to remove our focus from a HOLY GOD.  Israel ignored GOD’S WORD for a number of years, and when GOD collected what was due HIM, Israel wasn’t happy!  A lot of people want to take Jeremiah 29:11 out of context and say that GOD HAS A PLAN and HE promises us prosperity, but ALMIGHTY GOD states VERY PLAINLY in Jeremiah 29:10 that HE WILL visit Israel “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED”!  Not after they had learned their lesson, or when HE had forgiven their disobedience, but “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED”!

How long should I be sent INTO EXILE?  How long have I done what “I thought “ was best?  Romans 14:23b says “For whatever does not proceed from FAITH is sin”.  So when I have to SEE A WAY OUT, is that FAITH?  Or is walking carefully in darkness, making certain of my footing, TRUSTING IN HIM to place me feet where they need to be, is that FAITH that honors GOD?  

HEAVENLY FATHER, cause me to allow YOU to guide and direct my steps to be TOTALLY in accordance to YOUR PLAN for my life for the rest of my time in “this world”!  Cause me to not wait until “WHEN SEVENTY YEARS ARE COMPLETED”, but to TRUST in YOU even for my very next breath!!!