A Forty-Day Study of THE BIBLICAL STORY

A restaurant located just outside of Denver, Colorado, excels in offering New Orleans cuisine. Even though it’s in the heart of Bronco-land—as in the Denver Bronco’s football team—the walls of the restaurant are covered with banners, signed jerseys, and photographs of star players from the New Orleans Saints. One can also see an occasional customer proudly wearing a Saints’ jersey. Who dat!

But that’s probably not the first thing one notices when entering the restaurant. Deeply etched into the concrete steps leading to the front door, one sees: “JER. 29:11.”

If this seems a bit cryptic, Google it.

And then select “shopping.”

You will find wall art, tee shirts, bracelets, coffee mugs, writing pens—all referencing the biblical verse Jeremiah 29:11. Some of the merchandised items contain the verse in its entirety. Others don’t quote the verse, but only show the book-chapter-verse reference: “Jeremiah 29:11.” Still others don’t reference the Bible at all but simply repeat the first nine words: “For I know the plans I have for you…”. The astute Bible student knows where the verse comes from and can fill in the rest from memory.

What is Jeremiah 29:11?

Let’s look.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

I find this verse very uplifting. If I wore bracelets, perhaps I would have one with the “JER. 29:11” engraving. I’m not too sure about the tee shirt. But a coffee mug would certainly be nice.

But there is a problem.

While Jeremiah 29:11 is God speaking, He is not speaking to me—or to you. He is not making a promise to me—or to you. He’s not even making a promise to an individual.

He is making a firm, unchangeable promise and commitment to a specific group of people, at a specific time, and for a specific reason.

Sorry folks, we are not in that picture.

And while 29:11 must have offered these people wonderful comfort, they heard God’s entire message—not just this verse. The complete message for them had to have been unsettling.

Let’s hear what they heard.

Just a few verses prior to Jeremiah 29:11, God tells these people:

Seek the prosperity of the city to which I have sent you as exiles. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for if it prospers, you too will prosper (Jeremiah 29:7).

What?

Is God serious?

The people being addressed are the “Israelites”—those that once lived in Judah (Judea). They are now held captive by the Babylonians. They have seen their nation destroyed by the Babylonians. Jerusalem, the center of their identity, life, and culture lay in ruins due to the Babylonians. The temple has been ravaged by the Babylonians. The wealth of the nation has been boxed up and carted off by the Babylonians. The people are now some seven hundred miles from their homeland and live in bondage to the Babylonians.

And God is telling the Israelites they have to pray for the Babylonians if they, themselves, want to prosper. God wants them to pray for their destroyers and captors! He commands them to seek the prosperity of those who demolished their homes and homeland and murdered their friends and relatives!

Now do you want to wear that “Jer. 29:11” bracelet? Do you want to pray for the prosperity and success of your enemies and adversaries?

To make matters worse—immediately before our verse of hope, God tells the Israelites they will remain in Babylon for seventy years (Jeremiah 29:10).

Seventy years!

Virtually everyone hearing these comforting words from God will never live to see their homeland restored to anywhere near its former glory. In fact, most will never live to see their homeland at all. They will die in Babylonia.

Now, what about Jeremiah 29:11?

Think about this if you are one of the thousands that have the “JER. 29:11” hooded sweatshirt. Are you willing to pray for the prosperity of your enemies? Are you willing to wait upon God’s will—even though it may be your children or your children’s children that receive the promised blessing? And keep in mind, Jeremiah’s prophecy was not meant for you anyway!

This is just one example of how we take the biblical text out of context—and try to make the story about us.

On any given Sunday, it is easy to hear a sermon that goes down this path. Look at 1st Samuel 17—the story of David and Goliath, for example. This is familiar to just about everyone. We have all heard lessons on the young boy, David, going up against the uncouth Philistine giant, Goliath. Perhaps we have heard a sermon climaxed with the deep, James Earl Jones voice of the preacher declaring, “With enough faith, you, too can conquer the giants you are facing.”

Really?

I know people of great faith that weren’t able to conquer cancer. Or depression. Or patch up a broken marriage. Or defeat their dependence on alcohol.

And if the lesson is to teach us to be more like David, are we to commit adultery? David did. Are we to promote murder? David did. Should we raise a dysfunctional family? David did—with a daughter that gets raped by her half-brother, who in turn is killed by another of David’s sons, who himself ultimately becomes bent on killing David. The drama found in each episode of As the World Turns can’t compete with the stories surrounding Israel’s greatest king.

We are not David. David is David. God chose David to be King of Israel—and told David that the Messiah, the Son of God would be a descendant of David. Yes, the Bible teaches us a good bit about David. But the important lesson centers on God’s story—God’s plan—God’s promises—God’s provisions—God’s power—and mostly about this Messiah and Son of God.

The story about David is not about us. Oh, it impacts us—there is no question about that. But we need to see the life of David in the context of the Biblical Story first—and not as our story.