After months of immersing myself in the Bible, one day I heard a sermon about the importance of claiming your very own life verse. That sounded logical to me so I started searching through all of my favorite scripture verses in the quest to discover my "life verse". (Now let me explain that I'm not against the concept of having a life verse but at the time it seemed like a box I needed to check on my way to becoming a mature follower of Christ.) After not a lot of searching (sic) I landed on Jeremiah 29:11. Because let's face it, what Christian doesn't long for the comfort and promise of this verse? "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.'" (Did you know that Jeremiah 29:11 is the second most searched Bible verse on the Internet?). And let me save you the trouble, John 3:16 is the most searched Bible verse on the web.
The problem, however, lay in the fact that my reading of this verse wasn't including the proper understanding and context of the promise I was claiming. Jeremiah 29:11 for example has a rich history of being mis-understood and even mis-labeled as a promise of God's blessings, prosperity, hope and a future. So what does this verse mean to us now?
Cue the back story - God had allowed most of his people, the Israelites, to be captured, and forced to relocate in Babylon with their captors. After this defeat God speaks to them in their time of trouble (who is singing "Let It Be" right now?). In verse 7 of Jeremiah 29, God tells them, "seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away as captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall you have peace." Notice that God isn't promising them that He will bring them back from their captivity and restore them back to prosperity in their homeland. What He is saying is that He allowed their current circumstances and their new marching orders was to pray for the city where they now live. Not the words of comfort I think I would have wanted to hear . . .
Let's recap, no promise of restoration, no promise that their suffering would end, no promise of being reconciled with their families, no promise of freedom, and no promise that they would even see their land again, Jump to verse 10 and God says, ". . . after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon then I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place." I'm not sure how long people lived back then but it was probably a good bet that some of those people were never going to leave Babylon alive.
The entire book of Jeremiah is all about God disrupting his people's plans and dreams to restore their dependency and affections upon Him. The people of Israel that were left behind in Jerusalem felt like that was proof that God was for them and the people taken away from their homes to live in Babylon felt like they were living under His curse. Jeremiah however said that God's judgement would fall on Jerusalem and that His purposes would spring to life through those were taken captive. Now either way the news is harsh. The people who were remained in Jerusalem promptly discarded this message and found prophets that would tell them what they wanted to hear. The exiles in Babylon meanwhile are facing years of having to endure a generation in their captivity were told to pray for the city in which they now reside. Both sides faced years of disruption and suffering before God moved to restore peace to their lives.
So how does this promise in Jeremiah 29:11 apply to us? Remember, it's all about context. Jeremiah 29:11 has to be read with an understanding of Israel's story during this time. Then we need to zoom back even further and examine how all of Israel's story must be read in the context of God's purposes through Jesus Christ. All of the horrible judgments warned from the prophets of old have fallen on all of mankind, on the cross, where Jesus took the full brunt of our punishment under the curse of the law. (Galatians 3:13). And if we are in Christ, all of the blessings promised to Abraham's people now belong to us, since we are united to the heir of all of those promises. (Galatians 3:14-29)
God does have a plan for us, in Jesus Christ. That plan is not for our destruction, but for our well being. Our plans here on earth may vanish, our dreams may be crushed, our very lives may be erased from this world. But God, who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise up those who place their hope and faith in Him.
What I learned was that theology without an proper understanding of God's purposes was foolishness. To look around the world and view the impact and destruction of evil while still claiming the prosperity of Jeremiah 29:11 for our current circumstances is not only foolish, it is bad theology. It will cause people to fall away at the first sign of suffering and that is not what Jesus promised or taught in His ministry here on earth. In fact, Jesus was pretty clear that the cost of following Him was going to be high and that suffering would be the norm. Living in the United States, it is sometimes easy to forget that most of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are not living in peace, they are being persecuted for sharing the same beliefs that we do. How is it that God would promise prosperity to only a few and not all of His people. The answer is, He didn't.
So how should we claim the promise in Jeremiah 29:11? In the same way that those exiles in Babylon did, by placing their hope in the full Word of God, in all of His promises, and in His goodness. God's word in Jeremiah 29:11 is not speaking about the comfort and culture that we seek here on earth. It also doesn't mean that in the short-term we will not suffer. But it does mean that no matter what, our future is aligned with Christ. To disengage this truth from the Word of God is to create a false reality for believers who should be preparing for the reality that Jesus promised all of His followers here on earth. In Christ, therefore, is our promise of hope, of prosperity, of a life that will some day be free from the punishment of sin and evil. There, in Jesus Christ, is our hope. There is our promise we can count on.
