For the City
Seeking Shalom in the 70-Year Work
We often treat Jeremiah 29:11 like a spiritual “good luck charm.” We put it on coffee mugs and graduation cards: “For I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you.”
But if we look at the context, these words weren’t spoken to individuals living their best lives. They were spoken to a community in exile. The people of God were living in Babylon—a mighty empire built on oppression, wealth, and the marginalization of outsiders.
They wanted to leave. They were waiting for a “get out of jail free” card. But God’s message to them was startling: Settle down. Plant gardens. Build houses. Have children.
He was calling them to a 70-year work. And His command for them is the same one He has for us in the world today: “Seek the shalom of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its shalom you will find your shalom.” (Jeremiah 29:7)
The Tale of Two Cities
I love Chicago. I’m a product of Humboldt Park, a resident of West Garfield Park, and I bleed Chicago blue (and I’ll stand by my White Sox as the real Chicago team any day!). We have the architecture, the food, and 20 miles of a beautiful lakefront.
But we also live in a “tale of two cities.” We have the best schools and the worst schools. We have extreme wealth and extreme poverty. We have beautiful diversity and deep-seated segregation.
As believers, we are “resident aliens.” We aren’t tourists just checking out the sites, and we aren’t colonizers trying to take resources for ourselves. We are exiles who speak and think differently, but who are called to add value to the place where we live.
What is Shalom?
In Hebrew, Shalom is so much more than the absence of conflict. You can have two people living in the same house, sharing the bills but not speaking to each other. There is no conflict, but there is no Shalom.
Shalom is when everyone prospers together. It’s the idea that the “peeing section” of the pool eventually affects the “non-peeing section.” If the schools in one part of the city are broken, the city isn’t truly whole. If there is violence in one neighborhood, the city cannot be at peace.
My wholeness is tied to your wholeness. I don’t make it until we make it.
The 70-Year Work
Why does God keep us here? Why doesn’t He just take us to “Jerusalem”—to glory?
Because He has a job for us to complete for the benefit of “Babylon.” In Hebrew thought, the number 70 represents the collision of two worlds: God’s completion (7) and man’s work (10).
God’s work is not absent of ours, and our work is not absent of His. We don’t just sit idly by and ask why God isn’t helping the poor while we have money in our banks. We don’t ask why the schools are failing while we have the ability to tutor or serve.
The Ultimate Resident Alien
We can seek the city’s shalom because Jesus did it first. He sat on a throne of glory, yet He saw our broken world and “stepped down” into it. He was born into poverty, became a refugee in Egypt, and lived among the broken.
He allowed His Shalom to be tied to ours. He took our “drought” on the cross so we could have flowing streams. He was “cast down” so we could be raised up.
The Charge
This week, I want to challenge you: Don’t just seek the shalom of your family or your own block. Seek the shalom of the city.
Where is the brokenness in your city that God has given you the unique resources to address? When light comes to a place, darkness flees. Let’s be the people who stay, who plant, and who work until the Shalom of God reigns in our cities as it does in Heaven.