Bronx Bethany, Get Ready For A Showdown.

Showdown: an event, especially a confrontation, that forces an issue to a conclusion. (American Heritage Dictionary)

Well, it's been two weeks, but the blogs are back! This week we'll park in Jeremiah 29. Pastor Sam wrapped up our Fourth of July weekend with a dynamite sermon, and I'll be sharing a few of his points (as well as lighting a few firecrackers of my own) over the next five days.

In card games, a "showdown" is when all players have to lay their cards on the table, face up, so that everyone reveals what they have been holding. In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet reveals the plan of God concerning the exile of Jews, who are carried by force from Palestine to Babylon. In contrast, a company of false prophets reveal their counterfeit prophecies, lying to the people and causing them to believe that their exile would only last for a short period of time.

Pastor Sam compared this scenario to the state of those persons who, in the face of God's relocating them to new places and situations, refuse to accept that it is God who placed them where they are, and it is they who must adjust to the modern version of "exilic" life.

Has God placed you in academia? In corporate America? In New York? In Russia? Remember the prophetic utterance of Jeremiah 29, where the LORD reiterates His role: "I sent them into exile". Not chance, not conspiracy, but the decision of one: the Eternal One, the Holy One, the Perfect One.

If the Perfect One has placed you where you are, don't waste your time longing or scheming to be somewhere else. Such a move by you could have deadly consequences!

Lord, in looking back, I see clearly that You are the One who has placed me where I am. Please help me to obey You by remaining, in a spirit of joy and peace, where You have placed me. I promise to flourish in the place You have planted me.