The Babylonians carried off the temple treasures from Jerusalem so that they could add them to the collection they had of conquered gods. In the temple of Marduk they had images of the gods of all of the nations they had conquered — sort of a “my god is bigger than your god” thing. The prophet Baruch encourages the Jewish exiles that the God of Israel was not, in fact, conquered but using the Babylonians as a punishment to bring the people back to fidelity to the Lord. God wasn’t finished with them yet. “For he who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.” Often in our lives when we have some family or personal “disaster” we must wait on the Lord as well. We can be sure that the God who loves us will never abandon us so we can trust that in God’s time all will be well.
