Your Greeting Card Lied to You!

I distinctly remember going through senior year of high school and clinging to the "truth" of scripture that God had a plan for me. If you would have asked me what my "life verse" was I would have quoted this one in a heart beat. When things around me seemed to go wrong, I clung to the knowledge that God would provide for me and would not let anything harm me. In reality, I believed this scripture meant He was going to give me what I wanted and would give it to me when I wanted it! 

When graduation rolled around I know I received at least fifty cards with it plastered on the front. It was on bookmarks and canvases, and even doodled in my notebooks. 

What was the verse? You have probably already guested it. Yes, it was Jeremiah 29:11: 

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope."

I have been reminded lately that it is not just me that clings to this scripture. I often see people posting it on facebook and twitter in the midst of their trails or confusion. The same people who post prophanity and crude talk. My favorite realization occurred when I decided to google "Jeremiah." Guess what the results are? Jeremiah 29:11, not even the entire book. It is hilarious, really. 

At this point, you are probably completely annoyed that I am bashing this scripture. In fact, I am doing far from that - I am criticizing how we choose to interpret it. There is great truth found in it. Yes, God does have a plan for us. He does have a plan for us to prosper, and He will not harm us. The problem is, we think that means He will give us what we want: it actually means almost the opposite. 

If we would look at just one verse before verse eleven we would read this: 

       "This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place."  

God was in fact talking to a group of exiles from Babylon in Jeremiah 29:11. Exiles who were in the midst of much suffering. To them He says, I will come rescue you, but after you suffer for 70 years. He explains to them that He has plans for them, and that He will not harm them. He will not harm them - yet they will still face much suffering. They will prosper - but after 70 years. 

So why is it that we interpret this verse to say God will give us what we  want when we want it, when it clearly is not what he is promising us?

Yes, this verse should be plastered on greeting cards, doodled in our journals, painted on canvases and engraved in our heads, but not for the reason of hoping God grants us what we want and when we want it. Rather, it should make us joyful for the current state of life He has placed us in, whether good or bad. It should make us confident that though God blesses us, suffering too comes from Him. It should make us rejoice in God's perfect timing and not hopeful in our own timing. It should make us thankful we are not exiles in Babylon. it should make us rid our minds of our own hopes and dreams and pray earnestly for contentment in the hopes and dreams God has for us!  

Pray. Pray knowing God may answer you tomorrow and He may answer you in 70 years. Regardless, He is the God who will give you a hope and a future! 

SOOO glad that the plans I had for myself on this day did not occur. Thankful for the GREAT plans God had and has for me! Even thankful for all my greeting cards - and the real truth behind them!