In Jeremiah 29:10-14 (which I encourage you to read), God has provided not only a promise, but also a specific timetable. God doesn’t always include a specific number of years in His prophecies, but this one is pretty clear.
Within this passage is verse 11, which gets quoted out of context a lot.
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.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
https://jeremiah.bible/jeremiah-29-11
Now, I think that we need to be careful when quoting God’s promises that were made to other people or to other groups, and directly applying it to ourselves. Here, God was explaining His plans for a specific group of people (i.e., certain exiles in Babylon). As a result, we can’t just say this verse also applies to God’s plans for us simply because we can quote it.
Having said that, we do have other promises from God in the Bible, like Romans 8:28-30. So, we may conclude that God’s plans for us are for good. Similarly, God’s good plans for the exiled Israelites here tells us about His character. However, we should be careful to not claim that all specific promises from God to other people also apply to us.
(By the way, as the Lookout reminds us, God’s plans included bringing Jesus Christ to the earth, born in Bethlehem, at just the right time.)
Going back to this promise and its original audience, what will happen when this promised time comes?
- The people will call on God
- The people will come to God
- The people will pray to God (and He will listen)
- The people will seek God (searching with all their heart)
- The people will find God
- God will return the people to Jerusalem
I like how God says in verse 14, “I will be found by you” (or, “I will let Myself be found by you” in the NASB). God is a divine, supreme, sovereign being, and – as His creation – we shouldn’t expect to have the inherent capacity to discover and understand Him using merely our own brainpower. I like science and all, but science also helps us understand the limits of what we can observe, measure, or know. There are things that we cannot know on our own power, and something or Someone greater than us (outside of ourselves) can very well fall beyond our ability to understand – or even find – on our own.
The only way that we can find God is for Him to reach out to us and to tell us what He is like, giving us the opportunity to find Him and learn about Him. Yes, there are things that we can infer about God from His creation (which is a healthy way to practice science, in my opinion), but that only gets us so far.
So, I hope that you have discovered that there is a God – one who is holy and powerful, but who has also reached out to tell us about Himself – and that He prepares good things for His people. Armed with that knowledge, I earnestly hope that you will invite Him to become the focus of your life. If you do so, and stick with it, you’ll be glad that you did!
From Sunday School lesson prepared for July 9, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, July 9, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Jeremiah-Lamentations, by Timothy M. Willis. © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 