In speaking a couple of weeks ago about trusting in the providence of God as He works out the details of our lives, I mentioned a passage of Scripture, specifically Jeremiah 29:11, which states: For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope (NASB).
This is clearly a verse of Scripture which every one of us should hide deeply in our heart. I have found myself relying upon it throughout my life more times than I can recall. Here are Robert J. Morgan’s comments on the importance of memorizing this verse of Scripture as taken from chapter 35 of his book, One Hundred Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart.
Here is a verse you often see on wall plaques. It’s sometimes inscribed in beautiful calligraphy or printed over soaring pictures of eagles. It’s found on coffee mugs and decorative plates. But few people have studied its context.
Jeremiah 29 is a letter Jeremiah sent to displaced Jewish captives who had been dragged from their homes and resettled in refugee camps in Babylon. Other prophets were claiming God would perform a miracle and deliver the nation of Judah as He had done in the past. Jeremiah’s message was the opposite, saying in effect: “The Lord will not save us this time. Our sins have so alienated us from Him that only judgment is left. And yet even the judgment of God is merciful. It may take 70 years, but God will reestablish our nation, and His ultimate plans are undeterred. His purposes are stubborn things and will win in the end.” It’s in this context we find verse 11.
Here is a simple study guide for the passage, which will aid in understanding and memorizing the key verse. After giving the background in verses 1-3, Jeremiah advises the exiles:
1. Make the best of things (vv.4-6). Settle down, decide you are in for the long haul, go on with life, and make the best of it. Build houses, plant gardens, get married, have children. Be hopeful. Don’t give up. You may not be where you want to be, but make the most of where you are. Don’t spend your years wishing that something had or hadn’t happened. Don’t be consumed by things you cannot change. Just settle down, do the best you possibly can where you are.
2. Pray where you are (v.7). Pray for the nation in which you are exiled. Pray for the shalom of the country where you are located. Lift up your surrounding circumstances by prayer.
3. Beware the wrong voices (vv.8-9). Don’t listen to false hope or ungodly messages.
4. Take the long view (v.10). At this point Jeremiah gives his famous prophecy that after 70 years God would bring the captives of Judah back and restore the nation of Israel. Our long-term prospects are always better than our immediate conditions.
5. Get hopeful about God’s plans (v.11). This is our key text, our memory verse.
6. Seek the Lord above all (vv.13-14). The next couple of verses remind us that since God has plans to prosper us and to give us hope and a future, we must seek Him with all our hearts.
Morgan ends this chapter of his book with the following quote by Warren Wiersbe:
“Verse 11 is a powerful promise to claim when you are “in exile.” God thinks about you personally and is planning for you .... you need not fear the future.”
Morgan’s account ends at this point. As I am reminded with each verse we examine each week in my personal letter to you, our dear Church family, God’s love for His children thankfully never ends. Isn’t it a comfort to know that in the midst of all of the sickness and sadness, heartache, uncertainty, and the vagaries of this earthly life ... with all of its unknowns ... that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ declares that He KNOWS the plans that He has for YOU. The Lord’s declaration is that He not only knows the plans that He has for us, that all of those plans are for our welfare, not for disaster, in order to ensure the wonderful future and the blessed hope that He has in store for all of us for all eternity. It does not get any better than that! Soli Deo Gloria, indeed.