Seventy Years
I try to be honest with you on this blog, so excuse me for a moment while I make a confession...
I am sick and tired of the verse Jeremiah 29:11 and while I still believe it's message and value it as the Word of God, I would be okay with not hearing it quoted or referenced for a few years.
What could cause such a strong aversion to a Bible verse, you ask? Well, the past two years for me, as well as the next few years, are very future oriented; wrapping up high school and determining your major are the first steps into the rest of your life. For that reason, everyone who comes into contact with you feels the need to reference this verse to assure you that God knows what's happening in your life, even when you don't. Graduation cards, personal notes, friendly conversations... I've heard it everywhere.
But perhaps what frustrates me most is the meaning of the verse. I love it that God has plans set aside for me, and plans give me a hope and a future at that, but when I'm honest, I'm still not totally in favor of everything that happens in Jeremiah 29.
Taking a second look at the passage, and reading the stories that surround verse 11, reveal a second truth, and one that is equally as important.
Starting in verse 4, God tells the Israelites to settle in as captives in Jerusalem, instructing them to build houses, marry, and seek peace with those around them. This was probably not the message the Israelite captives wanted to hear from the Lord. In fact, they probably would have preferred something more along the lines of "Okay, let's bust you outta here and show them what I'm made of!" Instead, God delivered a tough reality, telling them in verse ten, "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place."
We have a tendency to want to focus on the deliverance and future plans for our lives, rather than the period of time that God says we must wait to be prepared to take on the tasks He has set before us.
In other words, we would probably say something like, "God, I know that you know the plans you have for me, but do you think... maybe... possibly... I could know the plans you have for me?" We are hoping to forgo our seventy years of captivity and skip ahead to the deliverance part.
But one day, we will look back, when God's plans are memories and His purpose has been revealed to us, and we will realize something: we needed every day, every moment of our seventy years of captivity to prepare us for the great things God had in store for us.
"This is what the Lord says, 'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 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 a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:10-11).
I am sick and tired of the verse Jeremiah 29:11 and while I still believe it's message and value it as the Word of God, I would be okay with not hearing it quoted or referenced for a few years.
What could cause such a strong aversion to a Bible verse, you ask? Well, the past two years for me, as well as the next few years, are very future oriented; wrapping up high school and determining your major are the first steps into the rest of your life. For that reason, everyone who comes into contact with you feels the need to reference this verse to assure you that God knows what's happening in your life, even when you don't. Graduation cards, personal notes, friendly conversations... I've heard it everywhere.
But perhaps what frustrates me most is the meaning of the verse. I love it that God has plans set aside for me, and plans give me a hope and a future at that, but when I'm honest, I'm still not totally in favor of everything that happens in Jeremiah 29.
Taking a second look at the passage, and reading the stories that surround verse 11, reveal a second truth, and one that is equally as important.
Starting in verse 4, God tells the Israelites to settle in as captives in Jerusalem, instructing them to build houses, marry, and seek peace with those around them. This was probably not the message the Israelite captives wanted to hear from the Lord. In fact, they probably would have preferred something more along the lines of "Okay, let's bust you outta here and show them what I'm made of!" Instead, God delivered a tough reality, telling them in verse ten, "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place."
We have a tendency to want to focus on the deliverance and future plans for our lives, rather than the period of time that God says we must wait to be prepared to take on the tasks He has set before us.
In other words, we would probably say something like, "God, I know that you know the plans you have for me, but do you think... maybe... possibly... I could know the plans you have for me?" We are hoping to forgo our seventy years of captivity and skip ahead to the deliverance part.
But one day, we will look back, when God's plans are memories and His purpose has been revealed to us, and we will realize something: we needed every day, every moment of our seventy years of captivity to prepare us for the great things God had in store for us.
"This is what the Lord says, 'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 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 a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:10-11).
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