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. ~Jeremiah 29:11
It suppose it is unacceptable unexpected for a preacher not to like a particular Bible verse. And surely it shouldn’t be a verse that is among the favorite and most quoted verses such as the above passage in Jeremiah. But it’s true.
We are often drawn to a passage (or look away from one) because of some experience associated with that verse. In 2008 I bought a picture frame with a graduate’s hat and that verse written on it. In that frame I was going to put our son’s picture. He died a few days before graduation and that picture frame is now in the infamous ‘yard sale box’ (that’s fodder for another post!). No picture went in that frame … for in our loss we could not put together the idea of God’s great plans for welfare, future, and hope with our loss.
And whenever I hear someone quote that verse, I almost always want to challenge it. Then I remember – that’s in God’s Word – it’s not just frilly sentimentality.
Now before you feel the need to give me guidance so I can like this verse again, I do recognize that John Robert is enjoying the future and hope that God has for all of us – a life in heaven with him forever. “Hope” is very much a part of my vocabulary!
I still do not enjoy the verse because of the connection with the picture frame (representing our loss)…but also because of the context of when I usually hear this verse come up in conversation. Typically it is when we are perplexed and some cheerful perky person wants to relieve the tension by pointing out that God has a plan for everyone. In reality this verse says that God has a plan for his people carried away in the Babylonian exile. It’s a great passage of hope and courage. It’s not a promise to any one individual, then or now.
In principle, though, God does have a plan. He wants us to come to heaven and live with Him forever. He knew the price was so high that we could never pay it. Jesus came to pay the price for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. This is the ‘good news’ that we are to share. When it is believed and obeyed, then new life is ours (Mark 16:15-16 “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”) There is hope!
Plucking Bible verses from their context and sprinkling them into difficult settings in order to try to alleviate pain runs counter to intention. It can actually bring more pain. Like the person at the funeral home who can’t stop talking about Romans 8:28. It insinuates that if you hurt, cry, experience pain that you are just ignoring God’s good news for your life.
The truth is that we need some Gethsemane time before we can celebrate the resurrection.
~John
I think your response is more than acceptable–it is courageous to recognize that “hope remains” in spite of the pain and chaos that sometimes enters our lives. And I agree that it is dangerous totake a verse that applies to a ‘people’ and attempt to apply it to my individual path as a part of that people.
God Bless
Charlie
Thank you Charlie!
As long as the people using this verse are Jews living in exile in Babylon, I don’t see why you would say they’re lifting it from its context. :-)
When we finished watching “Soul Surfer” (which is a good movie), I said to my wife, “Well, they used just two Bible passages, both completely out of context.” (She loves it when I spoil a movie that way) People mean well when they use this verse, Philippians 4:13 and others as “positive thinking” verses, but I agree with your assessment. Biblical aphorisms aren’t always the most helpful during life’s crises.
I think that we need to point out more of the passages that talk about the hardships of the Christian life, the suffering that comes when we truly follow Jesus. Acts 14:22 says that the message Paul and Barnabas had for new Christians was “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” I think people need that dose of reality to prepare them for what’s coming.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
P.S.—If someone gets really annoying with pithy out-of-context Bible quotes, I just tell them, “The verse that keeps me going is Ecclesiastes 10:19: ‘Money is the answer for everything.’” That usually slows them up a bit.
Just had to say, Tim, that your PS made me laugh out loud, and I’m still chuckling. ;-)
Amen Tim … even to your P.S. ! LOL Yes, we really lower the expectations of Biblical help when we abuse the text in these ways.
This verse has been used and abused in the ICOC for years. What was meant to encourage a people going through exile that they (collectively) had a future in later generations has been made into a meaningless and even offensive cliche. Like how people keep saying “everything happens for a reason” without really considering the magnitude of evil they are implicitly attributing to God.
Yes, Adam… that’s another phrase that gives me a liver shiver… I often bite my tongue!
Amen, John. I get really cranky when confronted with “God has a purpose for her illness” wrt my daughter. God did NOT plan her illness, nor did he plan to cut John Robert’s life short. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
So true, Wendy. We live in a broken world and only He can fix it at the renewal of all things.
Very well said in so many ways. This verse has long bothered me, too — mainly for what you said: It is said so flippantly/ casually by people who simply don’t know what else to say. However, I will say that this verse has recently blessed me greatly as I am concentrating on the word ‘hope’ and what a powerful force hope is. When I saw and read this verse, I was struck that God realized that hope was just as important to His people as their future. That has blessed me — He knows. He does know us, and longs to give us hope. Won’t ever toss it out to a grieving parent or the like, but it has blessed me nonetheless.
Yes, amen to the Hope that it represents. Good thoughts Sarah. Thanks.
Well you understand, Pastor John, a text out of context can often be a pretext.
In Todd Burpo’s book “Heaven is for real” his son, Colton, reminds him of his railing at God for all the horrible thing that had happened and now his son was likely to die. And God responding to his honest outburst in the privacy of small hospital room. We know God sees right through us, so to be honest with ourselves is just a staring point.
God bless you John.
Thank you Glyn. Appreciate your wise words.
Brother,
Thank you for saying what you did. My sister died at 37, five days after having her third child. My brother died at 48, leaving his two children who had lost their mother only a short time before. So many well-meaning folks said things about the plan of God, or of God needing them, or other things meant to comfort us. Yet it was very difficult to make sense of it all. Truthfully, there were times when punching the person who said something akin to this seemed to be the best course of action. I didn’t…thankfully!
My Gethsemane moments tend to make me long even more for Jesus’ return. Thank you for sharing yours.
Appreciate you sharing, Tim. There is a lot of forgiving to do when folks are trying to help and do not know what to say or do.