Tuesday, 24 November 2009
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Plans to Prosper You? Jeremiah 29:11
After seeing the post about Matthew 18:19-20 I was reminded of another commonly misquoted and misunderstood verse, Jeremiah 29:11.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
It's a beautiful verse, and many Christians say it to one another all of the time, but do they really know what it's about?If you read the book of Jeremiah or even the few chapters before chapter 29 you will see that Jeremiah is telling the people that they will be taken into captivity, for 70 years they will be in captivity in Babylon. And then when the 70 years are up they will be returned. Verse 11 is part of the promise that God hasn't abandoned them and when the 70 years are up he will return them.
This is a little bit of the context of just chapter 29, for a full understanding you have to read the whole book of course, but even if you read the few chapters before it becomes pretty clear.
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD. This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." - Jeremiah 29:4-14 (NIV)
During the time of Jeremiah there were many false prophets saying that Babylon isn't going to take over and take them captive, and that God was going to deliver them immediately. Jeremiah calls the people out for their sin, calls out the false prophets, and tells the people that they are going to go as captives into Babylon for 70 years. In the passage above you can see that he tells them to build houses, marry, have kids, etc. because they're going to be there for awhile. The promise of Jeremiah 29 is telling the people that their descendants will be returned to Judah in 70 years, not those people now. So, it is a promise, just not directly for those whom received it but instead to their grandchildren.
While it is true that God does have plans for us, and those plans are for His good that isn't what this verse is about, and as Christians we need to use the Scripture properly rather than taking it out of context.
Sadly many people don't look at the context of passages in the Bible, or they hear it on the radio or see it on a t-shirt and trust without verifying the real meaning. Also the TV preachers are horrible for using this, and many other passages, to try to claim a gospel of financial prosperity, health, and wealth.That link is to a great resource, I hope you'll take the time to watch it. Let me know what you think.
Do you think that this verse is misused? What is your response to the verse's explanation? How can we use the verse more appropriately?
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- From: MagisterTom@xanga
- Name: Tom
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Comments (22)
I've actually learned about this verse from Pastor Voddie himself... and find it rather distressing now everytime someone uses that verse as a means of encouragment or used while it's taken out of context... makes me sigh a sad sigh knowing that they botched the meaning of that verse... not that encouraging verses aren't bad nor that this verse isn't encouraging... but to understand the full meaning of the verse... the contex needs to be placed... otherwise it's just another way of treating God as our genie in a bottle where we want He to do it our way because, "Well God, Your plan is to prosper us and give us good and not evil..." and so on goes the excuses...
I get annoyed when Christians use this verse without considering the original context at all, and implying that "life's good".
Umm... This text is CLEARLY meant for the United States now that Israel in no longer God's chosen nation! The USA is the New Testament chosen nation!
Dude, the verse clearly says 'you.' Why are you trying to use your fancy 'context' to explain away what the passage obviously says? You leftist liberal.
Good post. Although the text is beautiful, it is not meant the way that we use it.
@MC_Shann@xanga - You're bad lol
Whenever we hear this being used out of context we should chime in saying "Yeah, enjoy your exile! See ya in 70 years!"
Remember the story of Abraham, as an example. Abraham was a life of prayer. Wherever he pitched his tent, close beside it was set up his altar,calling all within his encampment to the morning and evening sacrifice.
When his tent was removed, the altar remained. Inn years, there were those among the Canaanites who received instruction from Abraham and whenever one of these came to the altar, he knew who had been there before him, and when he had pitched his tent, he repaired the altar, and there worshiped the living God.
As Abraham continued to journey southwrd, and again his faith was tested. The heaves withheld their rain, the brooks ceased to flow in the valleys, and the grass withered on the plains. The flocks and herds found no pasture, and starvation threatened the whole encampment.
Question: Did not the patriarch now question the leadings of providence? Did he not look back with longing to the plenty of the Chaldean plains?
So long as his confidence appeared unshaken, they felt that there was hope, they were assured that God was his friend, and that God was still guiding him.
God continue to lead us as his children by ways that we sometime don't understand, but God does not forget or cast us alway when we put our trust in Him.
You remember the afffliction that came upon Job, but He did not forsake Job.
You remember John who exiled to the lonely island of Patmos, but the Son of God met him there, and his vision was filled with scenes of immortal golry.
Sometime God permits trials to assail us, that our obedience we may be spiritually strength and our example can be a source of strenght to others.
"I know the shoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Jeremiah 29:11
So just remember that the very trials of our faith make us sometime think that God has forsaken us, are to lead us closer to Christ, that we may lay all our burdens at His feet and experience the peace which He will give us in exchange.
THANKYOU !
(Simple as my daily bread, when I fly & about to fall - it's God & me, that I sometimes fail to see... Make me aware, make me see that everything I am, is NOT all about me... Take my world & turn it around, so that the obvious can finally be found... Make me aware...!)
May God's richest blessings fall upon you & yours...
that also annoys me when people use it wrong
I'm not sure I see the problem.
Yes - it is used out of context... but, essentially, the premise is still the same. Life sucks - something awful is going to happen. The Bible makes that idea clear - there will be suffering... but God has other plans! How is it out of context, then, to use this verse to emphasize God's intentions in the midst of suffering and troubles? Simply because it was related to the 70 yr trials of the Jews does not necessarily mean that the premise isn't the same. If we limited the entire Bible to simply the context, we would be in trouble. This is partly why Christ spoke in parables... they are examples, to demonstrate something we ought to know.
This would be low on my annoyance of out of context things. Way low. Things like accepting Jesus into your heart stuff is what gets me. Now where's THAT one in the bible?
I agree with your point. My only worry is that, nearly all the scriptures in the bible are context-specific - they're not addressed to "us", they were always stated in the context of a larger story to a specific person or group. how do we ever apply what was said to them then to us?
Good post, Tom. I also enjoyed listening to Pastor Voddie. At first I was just going to sample the sermon, just to get a feel for his interpretation, but then I found myself listening to the whole 50 minutes. It is good to see - both in his sermon and in your post - the passage put in its proper place. Pastor Voddie got a lot of family points from the passage that I hadn't noticed, so I learned something new.
I do think that he overlooked the church application however. The later chapters (30 - 33) shed much light on just what the "hope and a future" entails. 31:14 points to the physical return and reboilding of Jerusalem. But then, in this same chapter even, the focus changes to a spiritual Jerusalem (the church of redeemed Jews and Gentiles - us!). These middle chapters of Jeremiah are so worthy of more careful study because they have much to say about the New Covenant and the church. In fact I had started doing a study on these passages in my Xanga last February and March but was then distracted by all the attention to the Wilkerson article. I never got back to that Jeremiah series.
Didn't mean to write this much. Keep the articles coming!
"For the word of God is ALIVE and POWERFUL and sharper than any TWO-SWORDand piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
The expression "TWO-SWORD" means that just as his word was an encouragement for them in those days it could also be an encouragement for us in our time.You're all saying that we are not using God's word correctly or out of context!! and you're all incorrect the bible actually tells in "2 Timothy 3:16-17 “ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be fully ready, equipped for ever.
Now if you all look closely it says: "ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction...." It doesn't say SOME scriptures it clearly says ALL SCRIPTURE so I wanna correct all of you. No word of God is used out of context since all scripture is inspired to teach and so and so forth. BLess you all! contact me at oscarroman82@yahoo.com if you have any comments/questions.
@squanto_07@xanga -
YOU ALL MISSING THE POINT OF GOD'S WORD."For the word of God is ALIVE and POWERFUL and sharper than any TWO-SWORDand piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
The expression "TWO-SWORD" means that just as his word was an encouragement for them in those days it could also be an encouragement for us in our time.
You're all saying that we are not using God's word correctly or out of context!! and you're all incorrect the bible actually tells in "2 Timothy 3:16-17 “ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be fully ready, equipped for ever.
Now if you all look closely it says: "ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction...." It doesn't say SOME scriptures it clearly says ALL SCRIPTURE so I wanna correct all of you. No word of God is used out of context since all scripture is inspired to teach and so and so forth. BLess you all! contact me at oscarroman82@yahoo.com if you have any comments/questions.
@deepestrecesses - Yes it is.
YOU ALL MISSING THE POINT OF GOD'S WORD."For the word of God is ALIVE and POWERFUL and sharper than any TWO-SWORDand piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
The expression "TWO-SWORD" means that just as his word was an encouragement for them in those days it could also be an encouragement for us in our time.
You're all saying that we are not using God's word correctly or out of context!! and you're all incorrect the bible actually tells in "2 Timothy 3:16-17 “ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be fully ready, equipped for ever.
Now if you all look closely it says: "ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction...." It doesn't say SOME scriptures it clearly says ALL SCRIPTURE so I wanna correct all of you. No word of God is used out of context since all scripture is inspired to teach and so and so forth. BLess you all! contact me at oscarroman82@yahoo.com if you have any comments/questions.
@Red_Apocalypse_Horse@xanga - I get annoyed when people dont understand that ALL SCRIPTURE WAS meant for our growth...
YOU are MISSING THE POINT OF GOD'S WORD."For the word of God is ALIVE and POWERFUL and sharper than any TWO-SWORDand piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
The expression "TWO-SWORD" means that just as his word was an encouragement for them in those days it could also be an encouragement for us in our time.You're all saying that we are not using God's word correctly or out of context!! and you're all incorrect the bible actually tells in "2 Timothy 3:16-17 “ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 that the man of God may be fully ready, equipped for ever.
Now if you all look closely it says: "ALL SCRIPTURE is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction...." It doesn't say SOME scriptures it clearly says ALL SCRIPTURE so I wanna correct all of you. No word of God is used out of context since all scripture is inspired to teach and so and so forth. BLess you all! contact me at oscarroman82@yahoo.com if you have any comments/questions.
@oscar82 - I don't disagree-- all scripture is inspired by God-- it was written as inspired by him with the purpose he intended for it to have.
I have a post that I wrote about The Word of Christ which I wrote that addresses Hebrews 4:12 and may provide you an understanding of what I think on that matter.
To be sure, Jeremiah 29:11 has meaning for us, because it was written to the people of God, so he obviously has a purpose for his people now-- yet I still think that it is misused today quite often.
@oscar82 - Chill out.
Thank the Lord. He does have plans to prosper us. Later I have went through the hardest time I could ever imagine and this is after I have surrendered completely to the Lord. I have been reading in the book of Jeremiah and it is incredible all he went through and he was doing all God was asking him to do. I realize this life is a trial to see if we will keep the faith and yes God's grace will help us get through but our reward is in the eternal life. Wow, just look how all the martyrs and the apostles, the disciples, and even Jesus himself had a hard life. Jesus had no where to lay his head. Who am I that I should have a better life than Jesus?? No, I am willing to live a hard life yet learn, grow and learn from my lessons. If God decided to give me properity, then Bless His Name but Job said "THough He slay me, I will trust Him." Blessed be the Lord.
shefree@rv57 -My sister and I were just having this conversation around Jeremiah 29:11 and she said it didn't even matter because what God said wasn't to US. it was to those people at that time and it was a promise for them so how can she claim it. It was a bit confusing. i tried saying that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and what Father wants to withhold a promise for ALL of his children but now I'm confused. Any thoughts on whether or not the OT promises that were made specifically to a group of people can be claimed today???