“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.”
– Jeremiah 29:7
What a command from God, as his people are going into exile, they’re being taken from the promise land into a foreign land, being taken captive by the Babylonians, that’s what is being prophesied here, and God tells his people through Jeremiah, when you go to this city where I have sent you into exile, even that phrase is a clear reminder of God’s sovereignty over where we live and where we find ourselves, each one of our lives, even right now, this is not an accident that we are where we are right now.
That God in his sovereignty has us in a place and to take this imagery of exiles all the way to the New Testament, we are all exiles, aliens, strangers in this world, no matter what country or city we live in, we are looking forward to another city and another country.
Jeremiah 29:7 Calls Us to Pray for God’s Work in the Cities Around the World
This city, this country is not our home. We are exiles here, and God says, “Pray to the Lord on behalf of the city, where I have placed you for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.” It is good to seek the welfare and to pray for specifically the welfare of the city, the country, where we find ourselves living.
So I would just ask you, are you a faithful intercessor for your city? Are you seeking the welfare of the city where you live of the country, where you live and are you faithfully interceding praying for the good, and are you faithfully interceding praying to the Lord on behalf of your city?
Oh God, we pray that you would help us to be faithful to do what you called your people to do here in Jeremiah 29. Now, obviously we know we are not in the same circumstance that they were in, but we trust that you have sovereignly placed each of us where we find ourselves right now, for me in greater Washington, DC, and for each person listening to this, some in the same cities, some in very different cities and some in different countries.
Jeremiah 29:7 Leads Us to Pray for the Welfare of Our Own Cities
God, we pray that you would help us to seek the welfare of the places where you have put us to do good in our cities to do good in our countries where you have sent us, where you have placed us and God to pray on behalf of the city where we find ourselves right now.
God, even in this moment, we intercede for our cities. I intercede, pray for your grace and your mercy on Metro Washington, DC. And God as others who live in different cities, fill in the blanks with their cities and pray for their cities. God, we pray for the good of the places where we live.
God, we pray for good, just leaders. We pray for good, just laws. We pray for the flourishing of people, knowing even this is in part for ourselves. You have told us in the welfare of our cities, we will find our welfare and God, at the same time, we intercede for cities, communities, countries, where there’s no one to intercede right now. There are hardly any followers of Jesus.
Pray for the Welfare of the City in Somalia
We pray for Somalia, God, for Mogadishu. We pray for the welfare of cities and countries, where there is little gospel access right now we pray for cities and countries where there are no believers to intercede on their behalf.
Oh, we pray for places like Mogadishu, Somalia. We pray for your grace and your mercy and your help and for the spread of the gospel for the good news of Jesus to spread in all the cities of the world and all the countries of the world, among all the nations.
Even as we pray for your grace and your mercy in our nation, in our cities, God help us to do what you told your people to do in Jeremiah 29, verse seven in our day in Jesus name, we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
