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I Beg Your Pardon. I Never Promised You A Hanging Garden.

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  • I Beg Your Pardon. I Never Promised You A Hanging Garden.

    Are we misreading the verse?

    Link

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    Is Jeremiah 29:11 really about us? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

    I am a supporter of the ministry of Celebrate Recovery. When I meet people struggling with porn, alcoholism, co-dependency, or any other addiction, I always point them to Celebrate Recovery. While I love the program, I do have one problem. That problem is that so many people give a testimony and hardly a month goes by where I don’t hear someone quoting Jeremiah 29:11.

    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 hope and a future.

    That certainly sounds encouraging. God knows the plans He has for us. He has plans to give us a hope and a future. Wow. How assuring!

    Or is it?

    Let’s start with asking who the “You” is in the passage. Hint. It’s not us.

    The you refers to the people of Israel. The people that figured since Israel was going into exile in Babylon, well then that means God is done with them. God’s message to them is no. The game is not over. He will bring them back, but it will be a time of about 70 years in captivity first. So much time that they are encouraged to marry and have families and get used to life in Babylon. Most of those people would die in Babylon, but the people themselves would have a hope and a future.

    It’s quite odd that we take this one little part of this verse and say that it’s about us. Nothing else there is really about us, but this one is. On what grounds? How do we know that this passage in isolation is about us, but not everything else is? Let’s consider some other examples.

    We could say that Scripture has God saying “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.” That sounds good. It does say that. The difference is that’s part of 1 Kings 3:5 and it is God appearing to Solomon personally in a dream saying that.

    Or Exodus 33:14 with “My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” That sounds good, except God is saying it to Moses and specifically talking about the wilderness wonderings.

    Isaiah 45:3 says God will give us hidden treasures. Should I get a metal detector and go to the beach and expect to find a treasure? No. The message is what was said to Cyrus and likely referring to what people would hide in their own homes to keep safe from thieves.

    Let’s not forget that there is a picture of a Christian daily Scripture calendar that says “All this I will give you if you will worship me.” Sounds good again, except, whoops! That was the devil that said that one and it was said to Jesus in the wilderness temptations.

    Isn’t it interesting that we take the verse that gives a positive message to Israel that we like and say, “That’s about us!” but then ignore all the verses that give negative messages? There are several of those. Why aren’t they about us?

    So what do we do with this passage in Jeremiah? Disavow it? It has nothing to say about us? Maybe it doesn’t, but it has something to say about God, which in turns says something about us. It says that God keeps His covenants. Even when Israel was disobedient and broke the covenant, God never fully abandoned them. If God loves faithless Israel like that, will He not love us the same way? We can also add in that a passage like Romans 8 is for us that says if we love the Lord, all things will work for our good. In gaming language, this is the ultimate cheat code if we could learn it. Whatever happens for us, God will work it for our good.

    Jeremiah 29:11 is not about you, but it reveals something about God that can apply to you. Take the principle instead. Don’t make the passage about you.

    In Christ,
    Nick Peters

  • #2
    I sometimes get flack when I try to remind people to examine a text in light of the people being addressed.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by mikewhitney View Post
      I sometimes get flack when I try to remind people to examine a text in light of the people being addressed.
      Or people just give me a blank look, as if I were talking about some esoteric concept.

      Comment


      • #4
        The prophet books scared me for a moment as a girl, until I realized that it wasn't directed to me! Reading comprehension is important.
        If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Christianbookworm View Post
          The prophet books scared me for a moment as a girl, until I realized that it wasn't directed to me! Reading comprehension is important.
          They should still bother us, but not in the intense personalized manner you're talking about.
          "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
            They should still bother us, but not in the intense personalized manner you're talking about.
            Yeah, it still is awful what happened to the people as a result. Seige war fare is horrible. And the spiritual adultery is heartbreaking.
            If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

            Comment


            • #7
              Jesus had been sent to stop this cycle of spiritual adultery. He was sent with the gift of eternal righteousness to those who call upon him.

              Comment


              • #8
                I somewhat disagree with your point here. As God is faithful in his covenants, and the faithful Christian is party to a covenant with God, yes the passage applies to faithful Christians undergoing difficult times. God is faithful to those who are faithful (and even those who are faithless for a time but return to the faith). Even if we're going through hard times, God is faithful and will reward us for remaining faithful to Him - whether in this present life or in the life to come. While the verse is not literally about us, I see no problem with using it to encourage a brother or sister in the faith who is going through hard times.
                Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

                Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
                sigpic
                I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

                Comment


                • #9
                  My problem with it is it takes one snippet and ignores the rest. The principle can be better illustrated in other passages, like Romans 8.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
                    I somewhat disagree with your point here. As God is faithful in his covenants, and the faithful Christian is party to a covenant with God, yes the passage applies to faithful Christians undergoing difficult times. God is faithful to those who are faithful (and even those who are faithless for a time but return to the faith). Even if we're going through hard times, God is faithful and will reward us for remaining faithful to Him - whether in this present life or in the life to come. While the verse is not literally about us, I see no problem with using it to encourage a brother or sister in the faith who is going through hard times.
                    I think the general principle can be used for individual encouragement but in my experience it more often seems to be presented as a blanket promise (like one sermon I saw a couple years ago that presented it as such a promise applicable for all Christians). I agree with Nick that it hardly seems necessary when Romans 8 is also available.
                    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The school of hard knocks is also a part of God's plan, right?
                      If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Apologiaphoenix View Post
                        My problem with it is it takes one snippet and ignores the rest. The principle can be better illustrated in other passages, like Romans 8.
                        My problem with your problem is that it can be equally applicable to taking a snippet of Romans 8 and ignoring the rest. The resolution is not to use another passage, but to look at the current passage in context.
                        Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

                        Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
                        sigpic
                        I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Right. Romans 8 in its entirety is answering about who will deliver from the body of death. It's about the victory that all Christians have in Christ and the relevant part I'm referring to is "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord." That is the recipients. Those who love the Lord.

                          We're not the recipients in Jeremiah 29.

                          Comment

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