The people of Jeremiah’s time had no doubt about how they should pray: “Lord, please make the Babylonian army go away from Jerusalem.” And then, “Lord, please allow the defenses of the city to hold against their siege.” And then, “Lord, please allow us to stay in the land after the Babylonians have conquered us.” They, like we often do, simply wanted things to get back to normal, or at least as close to normal as possible.

But in chapter 24, Jeremiah saw a vision that challenged his people’s ideas about what was really best for them. He saw two baskets of figs, one that contained those that were fresh and delicious, and the other, those that were rotten and inedible (Jeremiah 24:2). But here’s what’s so strange: God said that the good figs were like those who would be carried off into exile in Babylon, while the bad figs were like those who would be left behind in Jerusalem!

Why is that? Because it turned out that being taken into captivity was actually good for the people, in the long run. It was those who got a snootful of Babylon’s false gods and their worshippers who eventually abandoned their idolatry. It was those who lost their freedom and political independence who would grow to appreciate how richly God had blessed them in the past. It was the painful, shameful experience of being poor, despised refugees that gave them a heart to know the Lord, that drew them back to God in true repentance (Jeremiah 24:7).

Yes, it was only on those who were humbled in this way that God eventually poured out His mercies, bringing them back into the land He had given to their ancestors. For it was only then that God’s blessings would draw them closer to Him, instead of driving them away in their pride and self-sufficiency.

So, how about us? Would it be better for us to go through our own hard times, experiencing utter helplessness so that we might trust more completely in God? Could it be that watching our cities collapse into violence and anarchy will finally cause us to lose our faith in government to make us prosperous and safe? Could it be that God will answer our prayers for revival precisely by revealing our weakness and thus our need for Him?

Remember, if the people of Jeremiah’s time had gotten their way, if they had somehow been able to avoid the Babylonian captivity, they would have remained in the grip of the idolatry and oppression that had pulled them away from God in the first place. So, instead of asking God to take away our current crises, maybe we should pray that He would bring us closer to Himself as He brings us through them.

Jeremiah 24:1-10 (NASB)

After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD!
2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten due to rottenness.
3 Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”
4 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.
6 ‘For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
7 ‘And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.
8 ‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness– indeed, thus says the LORD– so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.
9 ‘And I will make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I shall scatter them.
10 ‘And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.'”