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耶利米向流亡在巴比伦的耶路撒冷人传达了这一个上帝的信息。耶路撒冷人多年来一直得罪上帝，所以上帝派巴比伦王来征服他们，把他们带走。有些人乐观地认为他们的流亡只是暂时的，但上帝说流亡将持续七十年，这对许多人来说将是一辈子。

有时，我们生活中的危机看起来就像一段流放的时光。什么时候一切才能恢复正常？或许当我们的健康恢复了，当我们的关系修复了，当我们面临的试探过去了，当我们经历的不公正得到解决了。但如果上帝让这种情况持续一生呢？

我猜想，耶利米书的收信人并没有因为信中的内容而感到兴奋。七十年意味着他们中的大多数人将无法回去享受以前的美好生活。然而，上帝号召他们在现在的地方生活要像在家一样。上帝敦促他们相信，即使是在他们目前的处境下，祂也能通过他们扩展祂的拯救工作，建立祂的国度。

当上帝的子民努力适应新的环境并为祂而活的时候，他们会越来越多地认识上帝的属性。上帝的计划是赐给我们盼望和未来——祂通过基督完成的工作做到了这一点。

Jeremiah sent this message from God to the people of Jerusalem who were exiled in Babylon. The people had sinned against God for many years, so the Lord had sent the king of Babylon to conquer them and take them away. Some were optimistic that their exile would be temporary, but God said the exile would last for seventy years, which for many would be a lifetime.

Sometimes a crisis in our lives can seem like a time of exile. When will things go back to normal again? When our health returns, when our relationships are mended, when our temptations have passed, when our injustices are addressed. But what if God lets this go on for a lifetime?

I imagine that the recipients of Jeremiah's letter were not excited by what it said. Seventy years meant that most of them would not be able to go back to enjoy the good things they had before. Yet God called them to live as if they were at home in the place where they were now living. God urged them to trust that he could extend his saving work and build his kingdom through them even in their current situation.

As God's people adapt and seek to live for him in the new situations where they find themselves, they grow to see more of God's character. His plan is to give us hope and a future—and he does that through the finished work of Christ.