Jeremiah 29:14, commentary and pictures

God promised that after seventy years in Babylon He would be found by the remnant of Judah when they sought Him with all their hearts in fervent prayer, and He would hear them, turn away their captivity, gather them from all the nations and places where He had driven them, and bring them back to Jerusalem and their homeland. The return was assured but not immediate, so they were to reject false hopes of speedy release and live quietly and faithfully in Babylon until the time was complete. That pledge was fulfilled when, after the seventy years of desolation, Cyrus opened the way for those seeking the Lord to return and rebuild the temple. Beyond that history, the promise stands that God will make Himself known and be found by everyone who seeks Him with the whole heart and every power of the being, teaching and guiding each humble and contrite seeker individually without respect of persons. Such finding requires genuine conversion, turning from sin to righteousness, surrendering the will to God and becoming one with Christ, by which He gives deliverance from the power of sin, hope, peace, and strength to be His witness.

Restoration from Babylonian Exile

After seventy years in Babylon God would show favor to the remnant of Judah in answer to fervent prayer, be found by them and hear them when they turned to Him with all their hearts and wholeheartedly. He would then turn away their captivity and bondage, gather them from all the nations and all the places where He had driven and scattered them, and bring them back to the place from which they had been carried captive, to Jerusalem and their homeland. This gave the exiles ground for hope of deliverance and restoration of Israel from Babylon.

The promise assured an eventual return, not an immediate release or speedy deliverance, so the captives were to reject false predictions of imminent return. They were to submit quietly and peacefully, build peaceful lives, make homes and pursue their work in Babylon while they waited. Believing false predictions of an imminent return could provoke harsher treatment and restrict their liberty. The promise included the completion of the seventy years of Jerusalem's desolation and was sure enough for Daniel to rely on as he prayed for the exiles' restoration.

The return under Cyrus fulfilled the promise to gather the exiles after the seventy years and bring them back to their homeland. It gave those seeking the Lord an opportunity to go back to Jerusalem and help restore the temple. Their defeat and scattering among heathen nations had followed their failure to serve as missionaries and their separation from surrounding peoples. God scattered them so that knowledge of His truth could reach the world, and if they were loyal, true, and submissive, He would bring them back to their land.

Found by Wholehearted Seekers

God promises to make Himself known and to be found by those who seek Him with the whole heart and with all the heart. Such finding requires seeking with every power of one's being. He will fulfill what He has pledged, so His word can be trusted and claimed personally.

The Lord will teach and guide each person individually, for He is no respecter of persons. Every time a person seeks Him with all the heart in humble, earnest prayer with a sense of great need, He lets Himself be found and imparts the strength and grace and heavenly wisdom needed to be a living witness for Christ. Through Jesus Christ He withholds help from no one who comes to Him in this way, which gives joy in believing He will help. To the humble and contrite seeker He gives strength, grace, and righteousness.

Finding God requires severing dependence on every human being and object and clinging to God instead. It requires a personal work of purifying the soul temple that no one else can do for the seeker. Seeking Him calls for prayer from sincere lips asking God to press His own promises more deeply on the heart and to teach how to make them one's own in order to complete holiness in reverence for Him.

God still wants the one who has disappointed Him, grieved the Spirit, long backslid, failed to make straight paths, and let sin lie at the door with influence against the Lord. He is bent on reclaiming him to be part of an unbroken family in heaven. When such a person calls upon Him and seeks Him with the whole heart, God will be found by him and impress his heart so he discerns all things clearly, because His hand is not shortened that it cannot save and His ear is not heavy that it cannot hear.

God is found by those who seek Him with the whole heart and confess their sins. His help does not come by lowering the standard of righteousness to suit human ideas. Genuine conversion means turning from sin to righteousness, surrendering the will to God, and becoming one with Christ. Those who yield themselves to Him receive hope and peace, and God can use them for His glory. The promise to be found by those who seek Him wholeheartedly applies to finding in Christ deliverance from the power of sin.

Wholehearted seeking guards against being deceived about one's spiritual condition before God and opens the way for every soul to be saved. God will be found by His people if they humble themselves before Him and seek Him with the whole heart, though they are asleep and do not know the time of their visitation, that they may be prepared to stand in the last days. The promise is for people asleep and not knowing the time of their visitation, to prepare them to stand in the last days when everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

If God is sought with the whole heart He will be found, giving divine help in business work. Business and religion cannot be divorced, and what God has joined must not be put asunder. All natural and acquired endowments are entrusted gifts from God that must be held constantly under the control of His Spirit and divine sanctifying power. This requires a deeply felt lack and need, humility, and earnest endeavor to gain needed knowledge, qualifications, wisdom, and right use of intellect, so that glory redounds to God, because without Christ nothing can be done in a manner approved of God.