“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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” –Jeremiah 29:11-14. (ESV).
Many scholars agree that the verses here express the theme of the prophecy according to Jeremiah. He writes to the Jewish exiles in Babylon to encourage them. He firmly believes that after a seventy year period, the nation will be restored. Oooh! Was this encouragement to the exiles?” Most of them, especially the adults, would have died natural deaths in their foreign refugee camps before the “perfect” round of seventy years transpired! God’s judgment on their rebellion would take time, but in the end the nation would experience the mercy of God.
The verses in the context of this chapter lend themselves to an outline. While in a foreign land, the Jewish people had some tasks to accomplish:
Many scholars agree that the verses here express the theme of the prophecy according to Jeremiah. He writes to the Jewish exiles in Babylon to encourage them. He firmly believes that after a seventy year period, the nation will be restored. Oooh! Was this encouragement to the exiles?” Most of them, especially the adults, would have died natural deaths in their foreign refugee camps before the “perfect” round of seventy years transpired! God’s judgment on their rebellion would take time, but in the end the nation would experience the mercy of God.
The verses in the context of this chapter lend themselves to an outline. While in a foreign land, the Jewish people had some tasks to accomplish:
1. Make the best of the current situation of bondage (vv. 4-6). Go on with life. Build houses, get married, have children, keep the faith. Accept things as they are and do the best you can under the circumstances.I am re-reading this outline again and applying it to any bondage we have today: whether our dilemma is job insecurity, severe illness in the family, economic decline, concern over members of our families, disappointment over progress our church should be making in evangelism, service and missions ministries, God offers the same plan to restore us as he did in Jeremiah’s day. Dr. Warren Wiersbe says of Jeremiah 29:11: “It is a powerful promise to claim when you are ‘in exile’ God thinks about you personally and is planning for you…You need not fear the future.” May we be faithful to pray, work and wait.
2. Pray. Pray for your captors. Pray for the Israelites. Lift up conditions in prayer (7).
3. Use discernment in voices you hear (vv. 8-9). Don’t gain false hope. Be faithful.
4. Look at the long-term results (v. 10). Here, Jeremiah prophesies that in 70 years the nation in exlile will be returned to Israel.
5. God has definite plans; hope in them! (v. 11). God has a future and a hope in mind.
6. Seek God diligently (vv. 12-14). He has a plan and it will be worked out. Even though we may not be able to see it and understand, He is at work and will bring His plans to pass.
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