Week 5 Day 5 Devotions
Living in Exile
He says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back
those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my
salvation to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6
These words were spoken to the nation of Israel while they were in exile in Babylon. The exile in Babylon lasted for a long time, seventy years in fact. During this time God tells them to settle in this place which was so foreign to them, to build houses and live in them, to take wives and have children and to encourage their children to marry and have children. They were further to seek the welfare of the city where they were living in exile and to pray to the Lord on its behalf. There is a sense in which God was now forcing the Israelites to become citizens of the world. In the reading before us today, the Lord in effect is telling them that their work goes far beyond just restoring the tribes of Jacob to Israel. That work is in fact “too small a thing” for them to do and God now tells them that it is their task to be witnesses to all nations. All the peoples of the earth need to know who God is and God will use the exile of His people to bring this about. In the New Testament, in the history of the early Church, we read of another dispersion of God's people occurring when the early believers are persecuted for their faith and they are scattered throughout Judea and Samaria (Acts 8). We are told that those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Sometimes we find ourselves in exile: uprooted perhaps and in a place where we don't really want to be. Sometimes our exiles are of our own making and sometimes they are due to events beyond our control. Whatever the cause, God can use our times of exile to His glory. They can become “light shining” opportunities where we can be used by God to bring his salvation to the ends of the earth. And often, rather than agonising over witnessing or being fruitful or wondering how best to be salt and light, the best thing to do is to attend to our own spiritual health while we settle down in our place of exile and pray for its welfare. This can give God the opportunity to use our exile to His glory.
My gracious master and my God,
assist me to proclaim
to spread through all the earth abroad.
The honours of Thy name (1)
