Jeremiah 29:10-14 (English Standard Version)
10"For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."
So i have slowly been reading through the bible this past 3/4th's of a year.
Now after reading quite a few books of the Old Testament i am in the book of Jeremiah, and i seem to be at what is everyones favorite chapter and verse, Jeremiah 29:11
It was kinda funny though, i was reading Jeremiah 29 not really thinking about anything im-particular like, ewww Jeremiah 29:11 is coming up, what a popular verse. To be honest it kinda caught me by surprise... and i am glad that it did because i saw something that i only partly understood before.
To forgo delving into my past with this scripture lets just go into the now. So let me just say this, context is everything.
It seems that everyone uses Jeremiah 29:11 as pure encouragement that everything is in control, that everything in your life is going to go great because God has a plan for you, that you just need to sit back and relax and God will take care of your situations, just follow him and you will be ok. I think this verse has so much more meaning, and honestly verse 11 is just something that is really squeezed in there. Yes this verse packs a nice punch, but all 28 chapters and ten verses before make it truly worth reading.
Verse ten is where it is at and it seems we always skip over this verse. After 70 years of going through struggles and being torn away from their home do things only start going well for the Israelites, Gods chosen people. This verse is beautiful because it gives you reality. It shows you that life isn't a cakewalk, but that it will be tough. God desires us to follow him and trust him. God wants us to pursue him, not necessarily for 70 years before he will do something, but God is bringing us through a tough yet rewarding process.
As we read on we see that God then calls us to REALLY REALLY Seek after him. Not just say, God is in control and i don't need to do anything. I mean these verses say "seek him, WITH ALL YOUR HEART." That is huge, that is bigger then just sitting around.
I think God is beautiful and amazing. I am so excited to be reading the Bible all the way through. I am thrilled that he shows me the beauty that he has created and the literal sweetness of his word.
Glory to God, and in giving him glory, look around at the context, look at what he is trying to lead you through, because he truly does have a plan that he knows will rock your world.
1 comments, questions, concerns:
I love what you said in your last paragraph about looking around at the context.... (or as I took it to mean, look at "your" own context) "look at what he is trying to lead you through". I think that's a great way to think about it. We preach viewing scripture in context and rightly so, but I like the thought of looking at the context of our own lives... if that makes any sense. I think we might realize some things about what the Lord is doing in our lives if we would think from that perspective on occasion.
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