I love Jeremiah 29:11 it has an instant feel of something good is about to happen from God, and for the exiles, thats just how they could take it. They did prosper in captivity, obviously God had a long term plan and future for them and to prosper in their, here and now, was Part of that plan.

My girlfriend also loves this verse, and she believes it was given to her by God as a relevant here and now earthly promise as well. I will not discredit her belief in this because I know God can and does use many and varied ways to communicate His will to us. I also know many others feel as she does, that this verse is for them, here and now. And of course Im referring to the properity portion of this verse. And who am I to dispute it.

We should all know that God does have a plan and a future for us as well as we should all know that God intends for all of us to have hope. But the problem for me is that if we promote this verse to others as a standard for all Christians to live by, for the here and now, as some do from their pulpits and TV studios, we will see, and do see, many dissolutioned baby, and not so baby Christians. They will become angry and bitter toward God when their vission of prosperity for their life isnt being met by the “here and now” (miss applied) Promise of Jeremiah 29:11. What a foot hold for satan in the lives of those who demand that God must prosper them because of what they want to believe about Jeremiah 29:11 and their “here and now”.

Jeff, you have courage for taking on this issue, and again I am blessed by the interaction of this blog. There are so many well educated people responding to this issue, and I love it. Im not nearly as educated as they and yet God has given me the Spiritual gift of teaching, so accuracy in teaching the scriptures is vital to who God has made me to be. So I came to this site for understanding and insite to this verse. It has been very helpful. My personal convictions have been solidified for Jeremiah 29:11

Regardless of the promise God made to the exiles of Jeremiah 29:11, He is still able and willing, I believe, to make the whole of that verse true for many believers of today, according to His will for their lives. But it would be injurious for the prosperity of that verse to be the standard of teaching for all Christians in the “here and now” of their lives, when prosperity is so grossly associated with the financial and worldly possessions of life.

Great blog jeff.

It helped me tremendously. after twelve years of catholic education I can honestly say I have never read the bible….so I have much to learn.

I am just over 30 years old and was seeking treatment for alcoholism when I first heard Jeremiah 29:11. The phrase “rock bottom” fails to capture the emptiness I was feeling. After losing my job, being in an abusive relationship and having financial difficulties, I turned to alcohol. As a result, my relationship with God diminished the more I drank. That was my way of trying to hold on to control of my life’s path.
After nearly losing my life from drinking, I checked into a 30 day rehabilitation center and struggled with the will to live. I was obsessed with self pity and anger with God. When someone read me Jeremiah 29:11, I experienced the most profound connection with God.. That time was certainly the lowest I have ever been but being reminded that God has a personal plan to prosper me gave me the strength to relinquish control and to realize that this was all part of His plan for me. His personalized, unique plan for a prosper life for me. Instead of garnishing resentment for being unemployed, single and in rehab at the age of 30, instead I was suddenly joyful that God chose to save me.
Until today, when I read this post and everyone’s comments, financial prosperity entered my mind when thinking about 29:11. Prosperity to me was surviving a day without drinking a half gallon of vodka. Prosperity meant sleeping through the night without hallucinating from alcohol withdrawals. Prosperity meant letting go and surrendering control. Prosperity meant that God chose for me to experience what I did at a young age so I could have a long life with God in the driver’s seat. 14 months later and my life is very prosper. I have never been closer to God and my life is filled with hope for a future where thy will be done. In summary, even though taken out of context, the sentiment of this message and the timing of which I heard it, in my opinion, was part of His plans to prosper me and provide me hope and a future. The important take away for me is that this verse reminds me to give over control to Him – therefore I will not try to control how others understand and interpret this verse, but rather pray that His will be done. Thanks for opening my mind and heart and reminding me how powerful words can be.

For the exiles in Babylon, “hope and future” could mean only one thing–returning home. The prophet Hananiah told them that God would deliver them in two years, and that they would be able to replant in Judah. Sounds great! Then Jeremiah comes in, calls Hananiah a dirty rotten scoundrel, predicts his death, and sets the exiles straight. They wouldn’t return in two years, but more like 70: “Don’t start packing your bags yet. In fact, settle in for the long haul. Im sorry, but you’re going to die here in Babylon. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise. You’ll never see Judah again. There’s good news, though–God still has a very good plan for Judah. And while you won’t see the fruit of that yourself, have hope, because God hasn’t given up on His people. Your grandchildren will be able to build homes and plant crops and drink the wine of their own vines back home in Judah.”

The people that this promise was originally made to died in their bondage. In exile. As refugees. But God still had a plan for His people (plural) and for their descendants. That’s *really* different than believing that God’s plan for your individual life only involves prosperity and no harm. Try telling that to the Christians in Somalia who are burying their children this week because of the record-breaking famine there. I fear that a shallow understanding of God’s promise in Jeremiah 29:11 won’t hold up against the storms of life.

If there is a principle in the passage that applies to us I like to find another passage that’s more appropriate like you did.
Jeff

People of Israel or Christians? Jews, of course. Specifically to them. Now if we were to say these were Christians, then we could say the principle of being corrected is in view for us all since any one of us would have been the Adam or Eve disobeying God by eating the forbidden fruit having listened to Satan instead of our Creator. God’s good plan for any of us to return our worship to Him alone is always a safe view to hold. Hab. 3:17-19 is such a wonderful expounded truth of this very same God who sent His people, the Judeans, or Jews, away to Babylon, because he will not tolerate sin anywhere, anytime. Yes, He may seem to delay the deportation of our own lives to our Babylon, but the principle is the same for any of us.

As for the peace versus evil read Jer. 30-33 to see that God ultimately returns His people, the Judeans, back to Israel for blessings. This is the expected end, or “future and a hope.”

Context of a verse is helpful to KNOW OUR GOD for how He may discipline us in our lives. But to use a verse out of context {Jer. 29:11} for our graduation wishes is to butcher the Author’s Intended Meaning [the AIM].

Mark, a reader of this blog asked “Who are you to read 2 sentences and know exactly what God is or supposedly was thinking when this was supposedly written long long ago in a distant land?”

Jeff, your remarks were helpful in guiding him with the resource mentioned. Might I add the following AIM:

Who is the author?
Who are the recipients and key people in the text?

What is the historical background and social setting?
What is the political and cultural circumstances?

Where does the episode take place?
Where in scripture is the same thing taught?

When was the book written?
When did the episode take place?

Why was the book written?
Why is the author saying what he is saying?

So What?

What areas of my life does this speak to?
What is the application to my life?

There is more, but suffice it to say this is most basic to honoring God by honoring the text as was Intended.

Jeff, thanks for posting good leading thoughts!

He took them out of Egypt(Slavery). They shouldnt be still there…..
Your Egypt is anywhere that you are in bondage that God took you from.(Ex. sins). ( see the list in your Bible) If you still there He should be watching you until you are completely gone. This applies to Backsliders who never came back after the fell into sins.

How to Enjoy Your Bible which I reviewed. It will give you confidence in Scripture and help you to want to read it.

Jeremiah can be tough to understand sometimes. If you haven’t read any of the Bible let us know so we can help out.

Since the Bible really was “written long long ago in a distant land” it helps us to understand the who what where why which others can help us with.

Thanks for commenting and I hope and pray you’ll keep pursuing.
Jeff