Read: Jeremiah 29:4-14
I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. (v. 11)
Taken out of context, Jeremiah 29:11 can be misleading. It’s often misread to mean that God is waiting to deliver whatever positive future you might envision. We sometimes hear in it, “I know your plans, and I will give you the future you hope for.” That’s not what God is saying. In fact, Jeremiah 29:11 is part of a passage in which God explicitly denies his people the future they’re hoping for.
Jeremiah 29 is a message God sent to his people at a time when false prophets insisted the exile would be over in two years. Through Jeremiah, God said it would be more like seventy. But Jeremiah added that this was all part of God’s master plan. God has plans, and those plans include a very good future for his people. This hopeful future will unfold according to God’s timing and God’s purposes.
God’s promise in Jeremiah 29:11 does apply to all his people, us included, but it’s kind of like the promise of presents on Christmas Eve: no matter how hopeful, it feels a long way off. However, Jeremiah 29 contains another promise that applies immediately. In verse 13, God says, “You will . . . find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” In the dark days of the exile, God invited his people to seek him with all their hearts. This Advent season, God invites you to do the same. The God who offers hope and a future offers himself right now.
As you pray, seek God with all your heart.
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
