耶利米 29:11 我知道我向你們所懷的意念是賜平安的意念，不是降災禍的意念，要叫你們末後有指望。這是耶和華說的。 12 你們呼求我，向我禱告，我就應允你們。 13 你們尋求我，若專心尋求我，就必尋見。 14 我必被你們尋見，也必使你們被擄的人歸回。這是耶和華說的。
Jeremiah 29:11 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.
耶利米寫信給在巴比倫的猶大人，鼓勵他們在流亡地做長期的逗留做準備。他鼓勵他們建造房屋，娶妻生兒養女，並為城市的平安祈禱。他向他們保證了上帝對他們的旨意：“我向你們所懷的意念是賜平安的意念，不是降災禍的意念，要叫你們末後有指望。” 但這並不意味著流亡者將享受七十年的“假期”。上帝的目的是讓他們全心全意尋求上帝！他們之所以流亡的原因是因為他們先前已經忘記了上帝，並追逐了其他神。被擄是上帝用來激發祂的子民以色列人再次尋求祂的手段。上帝應許他們，只要他們尋求上帝 ，就可以找到祂並恢復他們的未來。當前這種大流行時期對於基督徒來說不是停工期，更不是休假時期，而是全心全意尋求上帝，“呼求[上帝]並向[上帝]禱告”的時期。讓我們一起專心尋求上帝 ，祂在等待被我們尋見！
Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles from Jerusalem to encourage them to prepare for a long stay in their place of exile. He encouraged them to build houses, to multiply in number, and to pray for the welfare (shalom) of the city. He assured them of God’s will for them: “to prosper [them] and not to harm [them], … to give [them] hope and a future.” (NIV) At the same time, this did not mean that the exiles would just be enjoying seventy years of “vacation”. The purpose for those in exile was for them to seek God with all their hearts! The very reason they were in exile was because they had previously forgotten God and had sought after other gods. The exile was the means God was using to inspire His people, the Israelites, to seek after Him again. God promised them that He would be found and would restore their futures, on the condition and with the purpose that they would seek after God. These current times of the pandemic is not a downtime for Christians or a time of vacationing but a time to seek God with our whole hearts, “to call upon [God] and come and pray to [God]”. God is waiting to be found; have you desired to know God and found Him?
