His Word is True

Jerimiah 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.”

God is faithful and true. He can neither deceive nor be deceived. The Bible, Sacred Scripture, is the revealed word of God. As such it is true, and we can be confident in the promises God made in and through His word.

However, it is easy to misunderstand and to misapply the words of scripture. 2 Pt 3:16 warns of this danger saying of Paul’s writings, “In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do other scriptures.” And in the Gospels, we see even Satan quoting scripture when trying to tempt Jesus in the desert.

One way to safeguard against this misuse and misunderstanding of Sacred Scripture is to read God’s promises in context. The entirety of the Bible is one story, one long unveiling of Salvation History. That is the first context, but each verse also has historical and theological context.

The promise found in Jeremiah 29:11 is well-known and often quoted. It is a promise from God made though His chosen prophet, as such we can be confident that it is true. But to really understand what it means it is helpful to know the circumstances under which this promise was made.

Jeremiah was a prophet during a tumultuous time for the people of Israel. He proclaimed the word of God to several of the kings of Israel, sometimes this message was received favorably but mostly it was not. In chapter 29, the chapter we find this promise, the people of Israel are in captivity, they are living in exile in Babylon, a place they have been banished to because of their idolatry and turning away from the Lord God.

God has a good plan for His people, but it does not look like what they would expect, what they would hope for on the earthly level. Their earthly, natural hope is to be rescued from exile and return to Jerusalem, the one place on earth where they can worship God in His holy Temple.

But God tells them that it will be seventy years before that will happen. Instead, they are to build lives in Babylon, to pray for the prosperity of the city, the place they are in captivity. It is in this that His good plan for them will be fulfilled. It is here, in this land far from home, in a place they would not have chosen, that they will be safe from the destruction that is soon to befall Jerusalem.

God does not transform the external circumstance. However, in the midst of their captivity the people of Israel are themselves transformed. They had rebelled against God and worshipped false gods. Now they remember their identity, their dignity as God’s chosen people, and they return their hearts to the Lord. 

God’s ways are not their ways, but they are good, faithful, and true.

The same is true for God’s people today. He knows well the plan he has for us- both as a people, the Body of Christ on earth, and as individuals, His disciples in this life. Often the fulfillment of God’s good plan in our lives will not be the same as the fulfillment of our natural, earthly desires, even when those desires are good. The people of Israel desired to return home, that was a good desire, but not the good plan God had in store for them. We may desire something good- healing for ourselves or a loved one, job security, a new baby, or a myriad of other things, and not receive it, not because what we desire is bad, but rather simply because it does not line up with what God has planned for us.

When these conflicts between our will and God’s will occur it is an opportunity, an invitation, to trust and to surrender. It is a chance to choose once again to believe, that just as it was for the people of Israel in the midst of captivity, God’s plan for me right now, in the midst of whatever my current circumstance, is good and right, and leads me to a future and a hope.