Chapter 23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good Monday Morning to this first week of June 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For I know the plans I have for you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cplans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.\u2026. possibly one of our most beloved, yet most misunderstood, verses in the entire Bible. Here a few thoughts by Thomas Turner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure, it might make a person feel better, but this verse as we often prescribe it is being taken completely out of context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like any author worth his salt, the writer in Jeremiah begins by stating the subject of the passage: \u201cThis is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon \u2026 \u201c (Jeremiah 29:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This verse, quoted to countless individuals who are struggling with vocation or discerning God\u2019s will, is not written to individuals at all. This passage is written to a whole group of people\u2014an entire nation. (written in plural)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the verse just before it is perhaps even scarier. For in Jeremiah 29:10, God lays down the specifics on this promise: that He will fulfill it \u201cafter seventy years are completed for Babylon.\u201d In other words, yes, God says, I will redeem you\u2014after 70 years in exile. This is certainly a far cry from our expectation of this verse in what God\u2019s plans to prosper us really mean. He did have a future and a hope for them\u2014but it would look far different than the Israelites ever expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what? Some of you may be thinking. Even when the verse is taken out of context, it still offers value, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Context matters;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If Jeremiah 29 is speaking to the nation of Israel, and not just one person, then yes context matters\u2014God speaks at a particular moment in time, to a particular people group, for a reason. God has plans for a whole group of people, namely the nation of Israel. And if we read on in the Scriptures we find that this promise was fulfilled: those in exile returned, and the nation of Israel was restored for a time. God made a promise through the prophets, and that promise came true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s not the end of the story, either. There is something to the out-of-context prescriptions that so many make using this verse. God is a God of redemption, after all, and He wants to redeem people and put them on a path of wholeness, just as He wanted the nation of Israel to be redeemed and whole again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As John Calvin says about this passage, the prophet is speaking not just of historical redemption, for that period in time, but also of \u201cfuture redemption.\u201d For the Israelites, God listened to their prayers when they sought Him with all their heart, and in His time, He brought them out of exile. But how does any of this apply to us today? Can we still take heart in such a beautiful promise\u2014even though it was spoken to people long ago, people in a far different situation than ours?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First and foremost, we are all in this together. This verse does not apply to isolated individuals or to a broad community. It applies to both, together, functioning as one. The image painted here is one of individuals in community. Here are a bunch of people, worshipping God together, hoping for a future redemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The theologians Stanley Grenz and John Franke explain in their book Beyond Foundationalism just how a community \u201cturns the gaze of its members toward the future.\u201d The future in Jeremiah is one that is bright\u2014one that everyone in the community through prayer and worship seeks as their collective future hope. Many of us want to desperately know the plan that God has for each one of us as individuals, but let the prophet Jeremiah remind us that it\u2019s not all about us, and it might not look like what we think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even more important than our decision about which college\/education to attend, which city to move to or what job offer to take is the future hope of the Kingdom of God foretold by the prophets and fulfilled in the reign of our now and coming King. In this way, the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 is bigger than any one of us\u2014and far better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wishing us all a good start to this week!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Philemon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chapter 23 Good Monday Morning to this first week of June 2024 For I know the plans I have for you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cplans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.\u2026. possibly one of our most beloved, yet most misunderstood, verses in the entire Bible. … <\/p>\n