Is this Taken Out of Context: "I Know the Plans I Have for You"? (Jeremiah 29-35)
A claim made by thousands of God-fearing Christians: I know the plans I have for you. Hold up, could it be they all are wrong to use it to apply to their own life?
Let’s break down the context to better understand WHY God stated that. Then look at the bigger picture it’s pointing to that we should focus on instead.
It’s never too late to start!
Download your first two weeks free by signing up below (or buy Book One of the Family Bible Plan)!
A claim made by thousands of God-fearing Christians: I know the plans I have for you. Hold up, could it be they all are wrong to use it to apply to their own life?
Let’s break down the context to better understand WHY God stated that. Then look at the bigger picture it’s pointing to that we should focus on instead.
It’s never too late to start!
Download your first two weeks free by signing up below (or buy Book One of the Family Bible Plan)!
What is happening?
Jeremiah was a prophet commissioned by God to declare the truth about the consequences coming to the Israelites for their disobedience. In a related contrast, he also was called to share about the salvation of a future remnant with promises of prosperity to come.
As part of the consequences they would endure, the Israelites would be taken captive by other nations and their cities destroyed.
The gift of the Promised Land would be taken away by the One who gave it to them. The safety they had in the Promised Land would be taken away by the One who had protected them.
“I know the plans I have for you” isn’t sounding too real for them right now.
Hiding His face...
They pushed too far. They were at a point where God was giving them over to their sin and unrepentant lifestyle by turning His face away.
The phrase ‘hiding his face’ is the equivalent of the New Testament warning: “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” For God to hide His face from someone means the One who fashioned the earth from nothing, the One who controls kings, and commands the waves… it is He who turns aside for one to be given over to their sin. That is a horrendously scary reality for some.
Seeking the Lord...
The Old Testament will always point us to the future while telling the story. Here, it is pointing us to see God’s overwhelming patience, attempted guidance, repeated forgiving, and patient nature be obliterated by the Israelites’ choices time and time again.
We are the future, so ask yourself: do you recognize the Israelite mentality in your own life today? Do you see it stronger in your past than it is now? So much of our Christian walk is defined by our answer to this question: ‘am I wholeheartedly seeking the Lord’?
If you are, then God will continue to unveil this. If not, then at the very least consider that the complete failure to recognize this mentality in your own life (either present or past), is a step toward the path that is not heading to Heaven.
Seek the Lord, recognize your sinful heart, pray for a new heart that sees and cares for what God does, and switch paths! (And do not delay, we have NO idea when our time on earth is done.)
For I know the plans I have for you...
Some Israelites were exiled to Babylon facing an unknown future when Jeremiah was directed to send them a letter.
It was a letter filled with direction, guidance, advice, hope, justice given to their countrymen, and future promises. In that letter, a solid reminder is given of His ultimate sovereignty over their lives.
What a relief that entire letter must have been for them. They were directed to settle and grow in numbers because in their future, God’s plans included a future for the next generation (the 70-year period mentioned in Jeremiah 29:10 was common to round timeframes; here it likely represented 605 BC to 538 BC).
Their kids would be the remnant that God would bring back to Israel. And it was them to whom the promise was made: I know the plans I have for you.
Only them?
Can we claim this promise as our own then today? It’s in the Bible, it happened, and it matches the rest of what God promises, right?
Nope, the letter had clear recipients, the words were meant for them. God’s promises for prosperity, no harm, that they wouldn’t be destroyed as a nation and had a future, they had a hope to look forward to — those were physical promises to the next generation of the Israelites in exile.
But wait, there’s more! The letter is obviously included in the Bible and is for us to study as we seek the Lord and the Word He gifted to us.
Do you live for HIS glory?
A motto that should fast to every area in our lives… why not grab a daily reminder to boast for Whom we live to please?
Soli deo Gloria!
Who is this for then?
Remember, the Old Testament will continuously point us to look to the future. Typically, we are pointed to a future we read about in the Bible and a future we have yet to come in Heaven.
For a quick example, jump back to Exodus 21-27. The tabernacle is laid out in great detail under the makings of a nomadic tent-like structure, only to be made in the future as an ornate set-in-stone building (the temple), only to be fully realized in Heaven (read Revelations to see the correlations between all three). The tabernacle structure on earth is a smaller version of the magnificent one in Heaven.
In Jeremiah’s letter (dictated by God), we not only see a more complete picture of God’s sovereignty but we also see it points to a future time. The future time will be experienced on earth with the physical promises offered.
Re-read it again in context.
God does have plans for us on this earth, but this verse is not meant for us in light of your or my life today. We are not promised prosperity or a cake-walk to coast into Heaven. In fact, we are often warned of the opposite: challenges, opposition, hatred, etc. Our lives on this earth will often be met with hardships and failures and destruction by those who oppose us (in human and spiritual form).
“I know the plans I have for you…”
We are not to pluck verses out and conform them to fit our current situation. In light of the Bible as a whole, the book of Jeremiah, and the letter he wrote to the exiles: this verse does not apply to our lives on earth.
However, this verse also points to something else.
I know the plans I have for you... in Heaven?
Christians are promised a future in glory with Him where the plans He has made for our future include the ultimate hope out there, they are for our ultimate good, and with zero evil. Think that through, what that actually means for you, your ultimate future (if a true Christian), is fully in His sovereign hands!
So, to answer the question: can you claim that promise in your life? Yes, but in light of Heaven!
What a blessing!
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.
Last Week
Anchored Truth Tuesdays
~I do ask that you use the Anchored Truth Tuesdays logo image on your site somewhere or on the post itself; if you click on the picture a new window will open with html instructions
~We have a Pinterest group board, ” Anchored Truth Tuesdays, where all who link up are welcome to also upload their content–you’ll just need to like Anchored Abode first, and then request to join
One thought on “Is This Taken Out Of Context: “I Know The Plans I Have For You”? (Jeremiah 29-35)”