God puts a number on the exile today: seventy years. Judgment with a clock attached is still judgment, but it is also hope in disguise, because a sentence with an end date is not an abandonment.

And the psalmist sings about sparrows nesting at God's altars. Even in hard seasons, there is a home address. Better is one day in Your courts.

Seventy years meant most who heard the sentence would die in Babylon, and their grandchildren would come home. God's timelines routinely outlast individual comfort while keeping covenant with generations, which is why standing firm and holding fast matter so much: some faithfulness is relay-race faithfulness.

Psalm 84 shows how pilgrims endure long stretches: hearts set on pilgrimage, strength to strength, and a value system where one day in His courts beats a thousand elsewhere. The sparrow found a nest at the altar. In every exile, so can you.