There are times. and this may be one of them, when a nation finds itself in the pit. Under oppression. Defeated. It may be defeat in war, it may be despair because their future is now in the hands of the bankers, it may be the loss of cultural control.
We tend to see our nation, our city as special and get angry when bad things happen to it. We are less angry if bad things happen to our enemies…
But God wants all nations to praise him.

PSALM 67
¹   May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us,
Selah
²   that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.
³   Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
⁴   Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth.
Selah
⁵   Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
⁶   The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us.
⁷   May God continue to bless us; let all the ends of the earth revere him.

JEREMIAH 29:4-12
4Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But 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. 8For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.
10For thus says the LORD: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.

what can we take from this letter? How can we apply it today? We may, in the west, be militarily strong, but our finances are crumbling and our cities, states and nations re in various state o bankruptcy. Jeremiah suggests w are to get on with life. Provide for our children: have kids. Increase in population, do not die out. Pray for the city we are in.

For we are all in exile. Our home is Jerusalem, we are just staying in any place for a while. We should put roots down but lightly. We may have to move. We have to believe, have faith, that God has a plan for good — even though we cannot see it.

It is when we are tired, sore, broken, sick, separated and this lonely that our character shows. In prosperity we can lie. In desperation, we are forced towards honesty. In this, we should listen to Paul, who counseled us to rejoice in troubles, for then we could truly witness