Isaiah 55:8,9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Today I was actually reading in Jeremiah, but I noticed something today that I had never noticed while reading this particualar passage that I found interesting. While thinking about what I had learned, this verse in Isaiah came to mind. Today I was reading in Jeremiah 29. The last few chapters had God telling the children of Israel that he was going to use the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar to judge the children of Israel. He even told them to not fight them, just to go out and surrender.

Now the thought would be that God's judgement was coming in the form of captivity to Babylon and of course the remnant that was allowed to stay would be those that God showed favor to. But as you read in chapter 29, you find that is not neccesarily the case.

Jeremiah 29:4-7
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace."

So first of all we see some interesting things in this passage. We see that the captivity is going to be a long one. God tells them to build houses, take wives, have children, give their children in marrage and for the children to have children. So he's telling them to make a life there because they are going to be there for awhile. Further down he tells them it will be 70 years.

Next we see that he tells them to pray for the peace of the city that they have been brought captive to. There is the fact that by the city experiencing peace they also have peace. Then also we see at different times in the bible where it was a testimony to unbelievers when they experienced the blessings of God because of proximity to God's people. We see Naaman the leper (a Syrian) who was healed and got saved (II Kings 5:17) because of a jewish girl he had captured. We see Potiphar and then later the keeper of the prison who take notice that God blessed everything that Joseph did. We also see Laban who was blessed by God because of Jacob and when Jacob left Laban, we find that although Laban worshiped idols, he feared the God of Jacob.

The part that I found very interesting though is in verse 16 through 18.

Jeremiah 29:16-18
"Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I well send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:"

As I said earlier, a person would look at the situation at that time and think that God was really judging Israel by sending them into captivity. And maybe that he had spared the others who were allowed to stay behind. Actually though it would seem that in reality he used Babylon to remove his people who he favored to a peaceful location, while leaving the wicked behind to be judged very harshly by God. So what the men and women taken captive probably looked at as a curse, was actually a blessing.

One problem with sin is that God must judge it. Even if you don't participate in it, many times you will be effected in a negative way just being around it. If a father is living in sin and God judges him, the bad times that come about because of it are going to effect the wife and children in that family even if they themselves are not living in sin. In this case in Jeremiah, where it was a terrible experience to be taken captive, God was showing them mercy because it allowed them to at least continue with there lives and eventually come back. The one's left were all killed off and scattered.

So just remember. even when it seems like life could not possibly get any worse, God not only has your best in mind, but you may actually be experiencing his mercy. Also another thing we might could learn from this in a round about way is that it is in your own best interest to do whatever you can to stop the acceptation of sin in the lives of people around you. Where it was in their best interest to be taken captive rather than experiencing the wrath of God, I'm sure it was not at all pleasant. How much better if they had simply taken care of the sin problem before it got to that point.

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