Jeremiah 29:11
Thoughts from Amanda Cook
Dive Deeper
“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
Behind the Scenes
Today’s verses come from the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet of God who lived during the 600’s/500’s BC. These verses offer believers a great deal of hope, but if you study the life of Jeremiah, you see that the prophet experienced a lot of suffering in his life. He lived in a time when the Jewish Kingdom of Judah was conquered and had many of its people carried away into captivity.
As a prophet, Jeremiah tried to warn people about the coming tragedy, but his fellow Jews scorned and dismissed his messages. He was widely criticized and hated, and he suffered imprisonment for his efforts. One time, he was even thrown into a deep pit and left to die! On the surface, there is a little bit of disconnect between these promises of prosperity and Jeremiah’s actual life.
The theme this week is workmanship. As part of our identity in Christ, we need to remember that God formed us and gave us personalities and abilities for a purpose. Before creation, God knew He was going to create you and he had plans for your life. God had Jeremiah planned before creation, before he was in his mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5). God gave Jeremiah all his abilities. He knew the ways that Jeremiah was going to sin and fail, and he knew what suffering and evil Jeremiah would have to endure.
The same is true for you and me. You are a work of God; however, we must be cautious how we approach this verse. Some people believe that if they become Christians and follow God then their lives will be free of trouble. That is not the case. We still live in a sinful and fallen world. And sometimes God calls us to endure suffering for reasons that we may not know until we meet Him face-to-face after we die.
But know this. You are in God’s hand from the cradle to the grave. He loves you and He will give you the strength to endure your suffering. It is important to remember that God never causes evil things to happen, but He can heal the evil in your life and use it for His Kingdom purpose if you trust Him and hand it to Him. If you have endured great suffering in your life, you may not see how this fits into the idea of workmanship and especially the promises of prosperity in these verses. What do we do with this?
Make it Real
When I was in my twenties, I developed a sudden fear of flying that stayed with me for years. I prayed to God to take it away or give me assurance that I would not die on a plane. He never did. After years had passed, I finally realized that if the worst happened and I did die on a plane, God had me in His hand. I would immediately be in His presence forever and forever. On my next plane trip, I told myself that if the plane went down, I would ride that bird to the ground singing praise to God. I knew that God had me even if I died. My fear of flying went away.
My fear of flying is trivial compared to a child that was molested by a trusted adult, a woman raped by a stranger, or a person watching a loved one waste away from cancer. Christians can, at times, seem flippant and dismissive of people’s suffering by telling them to ‘have faith,’ or that ‘God has a plan.’ Please understand that this is not the case. Our faith can give us great hope and strength to heal and process our suffering. We may never know why a specific instance of suffering happened, but there are things in our faith that can allow us to process it.
We have a God that entered our suffering and endured it with us. Jesus Christ is God, and He came to live as a human both fully God and fully man. He endured trial and suffering. He knew what it was like to grieve and be tired, to be hungry and to experience pain. He left the comforts of heaven to come join us. He did this out of love for us. And His death and resurrection provided a way for us to have healing and life everlasting.
God gives us His Spirit to help us walk through our lives. The Spirit gives us peace and strength to face our suffering. And God gives us the fellowship of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. As a believer, you are part of a family that stretches around the globe and back in time to the early church. Your spiritual family can pray with you, cry with you, and walk with you as you deal with trials and suffering.
Jeremiah was eventually carried away to Egypt against his will. It is believed that he died there, far from his home. Yet today he sits in the presence of the almighty God, with hope and a secure future. All his sufferings have been healed and he can look forward to an eternity of prosperity. His life was a piece of God’s workmanship. God used him to speak words that have motivated believers for over 2500 years. Your life is a piece of God’s workmanship as well. Take hope from this.
Johnny Spence
ACF Devo Team
End in Prayer
Lord, thank you for thinking of me and breathing life into my lungs. You loved me so much that you left heaven to enter our suffering with us. Give me strength, healing, and hope as I face my own sufferings (name them here). Thank you for everything, Amen.