Displaced

I wonder if much of the anger our country is currently experiencing stems from feeling displaced.

Whatever space we once felt comfortable, familiar and even secure has all but eroded away into a tangled mass of confusion and fear. People don't know who to trust or where to go that is safe. Any clear message from the government regarding the state of the nation's well being appears to only generate more anxiety and dread. Media and entertainment leaves us empty for a better state or place than the reality we find ourselves.

The Lord warned His people, "So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night--and I will grant you no favors!" (Jeremiah 16:13 NLT). And so the northern Kingdom (Israel) was overtaken by Assyria and mixed in with other people they had conquered (2 Kings 17:24). Later, the Babylonians took Judah into exile.

Always out of displacement comes confusion and mixture; thus a lack of peace. We don't know where or how to stand when we find ourselves in a strange place.

But God is merciful and promised His people they will return home. This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. (Jeremiah 29:10).

No matter the reason God makes a home for us and will bring us back if we have lost our way. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. (Ezekiel 34:16).

If you feel displaced by wrong choices or drifted from Christ, His heart toward you has not changed. His love and mercy still remain. Call out to Him and He will visit you right where you are and make His home in you. He will displace fear with courage. Hate with love. And mercy where unforgiveness once occupied.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. (Psalms 139:8, NIV)