This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. – Jeremiah 29:10

Today's Scripture Reading (July 11, 2023): Jeremiah 29

In our culture, we sometimes have this unbiblical idea about forgiveness; we seem to believe that forgiveness means that I will not have to pay for the consequences of my behavior. But that isn't the definition of forgiveness. I had a couple of friends whose marriage struggled a few years ago. Eventually, with much prayer and work on my friends' part, this couple got back together. In the end, they forgave each other for the things that had happened in their marriage that had torn them apart. Forgiveness meant they would not continually accuse each other; they were letting each other off the hook and refusing to hold the other responsible for what had happened.

But they quickly found out that that didn't mean that there weren't consequences that reflected back to their marriage struggles. For one, the family unit was different. It wasn't just them that had gone through the turmoil; their children also had experienced loss and hurt, which would not be quickly healed. A trusting relationship with the kids would have to be rebuilt, which would take time.

They also found that their good friends could not adjust as quickly as they had. In a time when they needed their friends the most, their friends were still caught up in the fight, blaming one or the other for what had happened in the marriage. Real forgiveness had happened, but that didn't mean there weren't real consequences that would still shape the marriage as it continued.

This is precisely what Jeremiah is saying to the exiles. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the Babylonian exile resulted from the sin of Israel. And so, the people were crying out for God to forgive them. The hope was that God would step down from heaven, forgive the people's sins, and deliver them from their current situation. And God responds to them. You are forgiven. And I am moving. After seventy years, I will come to you and bring you back to this place. Depending on your age, you might not see it, and your children might live out the rest of their days in Babylon. But your grandchildren will be brought back to this place. You are forgiven, and I love you; I will be with you in Babylon, but 70 years is the price of your disobedience. Understand, the penalty stands; the seventy years in exile happened not because you could not do what is right but because you chose not to do what is right.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 30