For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope. – Jeremiah
29:11
Last night I was
reading through the book of Jeremiah. Some particular verses stood out to me as
if I had never seen before. I was tempted to open my laptop and make Image Scriptures out of them, but I had decided to keep on reading until I complete a
certain portion of Scripture as a part of spiritual discipline. When I reached
Jeremiah 29:11, I couldn’t keep myself going. I remembered how many times I had
heard people around me using that verse for all kinds of exhortations in all
kinds of settings: birthdays, exam times, graduations, farewells, partings,
fresher’s meet, home fellowships, and even in churches. I decided to write a
blog post about it. I remembered a professor in a seminary who instructed us to
maintain our Title in a positive tone as often as possible. Well, I believe in
this case a negative tone that too in an imperative mood serves us much better.
So, “Stop Using Jeremiah 29:11 As Your Exhortatory Text!”
As I set out to write
a short article, it occurred to me to see if or how many article(s) on it are
available on the internet, because I did not want to waste my time telling the
same thing if many have written about it. Lo and behold! There were lots of
articles on it by some reputed personalities. I skimmed through some of the
articles and found some to be very short and some others to be of in-depth
treatment. I was hard-pressed to write a new blog post or to put it away, but
my mind was still not relaxed, because of all those misuses I had heard in the
past. Consequently, I decided to publish a blog post online for anyone to see
it about my concern regarding those misuses. Someday, when I hear people
misusing or when people ask me about its misuse, I can just send a link of this
page, “Stop Using Jeremiah 29:11 As Your Exhortatory Text!”
Well, you can surmise
the reason why I used the strong word “stop,” it’s because every now and then
people keep on misusing this verse. There are lots of other scripture portions
for anyone to use for exhortatory texts. Come on, why default to Jeremiah
29:11, which is very common to the point that it has no more effect on the
hearers, and also almost always wrong every time we hear it? Of course, Jeremiah
29:11 can be used as a text of exhortation as it can be of any text of
Scripture, but it has to be done in its context. As Steve Lawson would say,
“You can eulogize even the devil; he is consistent!” We can always come up with
good words or exhortation from any passage of the scripture. The principle here
is, if you aren’t sure of what it means, go for other texts of scripture that
you are sure of. Or else, just don’t! Please stop!
Why do we often use
Jeremiah 29:11? I think it’s because of its contents. It has soothing words. It
has promise. It has a direct assurance from God. It has a personal effect on
the hearer. It is very clear in its promises by the way of contrast. Its
promises encompass both the present and the future – of hope and peace. Wow! A
perfect message you would like to tell others in their birthdays, graduations,
farewells, any occasions. The message is perfect, inerrant, and true, but is it
for you, us, or anybody? Are you (or we) the perfect people to get this perfect
message? There lies the line!
How
do we know which verse is for us and which is not? Well, each and every verse
in the Bible is for us. The question here is, how do we understand a particular
verse and apply it to our life? Take for an example from the preceding chapter,
Jeremiah 28:16 “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I
will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die . . .”
Try this one for a birthday or farewell speech! What is the basis for not
choosing this text? If and since everything that the Bible says is infallible
and sure, it means this is true too. Some may argue, “Well, this isn’t
appropriate for a birthday” and I would press on, “What if this is the most
appropriate one, for he may die today?” No matter what your intention, feeling,
desire, or prayer is if it’s the truth it is. You can sip a bottle of poison
thinking it as a fruit juice, believing it will give you good health, but if
you drink, you are dead! It doesn’t matter what may seem appropriate or not
appropriate, we must be certain what is appropriate, and to be certain we must
have a basis or a standard to find out its appropriateness.
How
do we find out the appropriateness of any passage in the scripture? Well, we
have to read the context: a few verses or chapters before and after any passage
we seek to know. That’s not something of insight; that’s just normal and plain
to us. We do that in each of our conversations, when we listen to the news, or
when we read any letters or text messages on our phone. Don’t you remember
yourself asking, “what did he say before that?” or “what did he say after
that?” when you missed some part of news reporting on the television? We read
anything, listen to anything, evaluate anything, and apply anything based on
the fuller version of anything, not just in a few words of our choice for our
indulgence. That’s often called “out of context” or “proof text” or “pretext,”
and is negative in its connotation.
I
want to remind you that this blog post is about to Stop Using Jeremiah 29:11
As Your Exhortatory Text, please don’t expect me to devote a section on how
to use this verse as an exhortatory text. Weighing the issue at hand, it’s
better off without that section. And, mind you, the title is not even “What is
the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11?” but I am sure you will find out the answer to
this question as you keep reading. Before we read verse 11, we must read v.10. “For thus says the
LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and
perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.”
Verses 10-13 are in the future tenses, “will,” that will happen only after 70
years of captivity in Babylon. The “you” here refers to the people of Judah
(v.1, 4). Actually, most of the hearers of this news would not survive for 70
years to see the promises of v.11-13. It is for their children, being still the
people of Judah, who will live to see it. For the original audience, their life
will be hard and rough and die eventually (v.4-9)!
Now
we see, this is for the people of Judah; we are not. This is also not even for
all the people of Judah, it is only for those who survive the 70 years in
Babylon; we’ve not been to Babylon. It is only for the good figs, for those are
chosen by God as we see two types of people of Judah in Jeremiah 24 – the good
figs and the bad figs; we are neither the good figs nor the bad figs of
Jeremiah’s vision. And no matter who they are and how they live, this is a
promise which will be fulfilled not in the lifetime of its hearers.
The
people and timeline of Chapter 29 are the same as in chapter 24 and chapter 21.
What is applicable in chapter 29 is applicable in chapter 24 and chapter 21.
The only difference is those who are in Babylon and those who aren’t. Let’s see
for those who aren’t in Babylon in Jeremiah 21:10 ““For I have set My face
against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the LORD. “It shall be
given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.””Also in Jeremiah
24:9-10 ““I will deliver them
to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach
and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the
sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from
the land that I gave to them and their fathers.””
You
see! You aren’t in Babylon. You aren’t their children. You aren’t the people of
Judah. You aren’t even reading properly the context of Jeremiah 29:11. Please
Stop Using Jeremiah 29:11 As Your Exhortatory Text!
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| "Context is Queen!" |