Revelation

So I was reading my Bible this morning and I read this passage in Jeremiah. It was Jeremiah 29:4-7 and it said:

The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel sends this message to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem. "Build homes and plan to stay. Plant gardens and eat the food you produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away. And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray to the Lord for that city where you are held captive, for it Babylon has peace, so will you."

A few lines down I read in verse 9 :

Do not let the prophets and mediums who are there in Babylon trick you

And finally I read in verse 10:

But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.

I think you can compare the situation of the Israelites in Babylon to the situation of Nigerians abroad. We are not held under captivity here but in a way we are in exile from our country. Most of us are definitely not first class citizens. In verses 7-9 you can see that most Nigerians abroad are already doing what God commanded the Israelites to do. They are settling down, having children, starting new lives etc and they are now working for the peace and prosperity of wherever their new homes are. So in short those verses are basically teling us not to work against the system because it is in our favour to work with the government. In other words wherever your new home is, pay your taxes, don't park where you are not supposed to, don't drive in the bus lane, don't forge an NI number ; work for peace and prosperity. Also pray for peace and prosperity. Don't sit back and say this isn't really my country so what is my business. Pray for the youth of this country whose minds are slowly degenerating into violence. Pray for the people in high places. Pray that they will make decisions that are in alignment with God's will.

However as you are doing all this, don't let all the false prophets that are running all over England and America make you forget the God that you were worshipping when you were still at home. Don't think because there's running water all the time and electricity from the government God is no longer your provider. Don't stop going to church because you no longer need to worry about where your next meal is coming from. Don't let people tell you that there is nothing like sin, or right and wrong that it all depends on what makes you feel good.

And finally in the last verse God tell the Israelites that he will bring them home. In the same way God will bring us home back to Nigeria and he will do all the good things that he has promised. Now we don't really know when this will be. The Israelites were in exile for seventy years. God willing our own will not last that long. All we can do is pray.