The other day I was reading something from a pastor named Steven Furtick. He said something that was interesting to me. And I agree.
He said that the verse Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the worst bible verses in the Bible. Now before you get all angry, listen. If you have been around church at all, you have probably heard this verse.
"Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
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."
A lot of people use this as a staple for there life. That's great. I love that verse. It's a promise from God. But here is the issue. This becomes the worst verse in the bible because it sort if gives this "fake" view that God will never allow bad things to happen to you. Ever. He has a plan for you. True. To prosper you. True. Not to harm you. True. To have a hope and a future. True.
All of that is true. But I feel that we get this idea that God will never allow bad things to happen to us because He has a plan and doesn't want to hurt us, but as soon as troubles come our way, as soon as the hard times come, we look at this verse and say, "LIAR! God I'm hurting right now, you said you would never do this." Their faith suffers.
Now here is way I agree with Steven Furtick's claim of this being the worst verse in the Bible.
Christians have this tendency sometimes to take verses out of context. When the Bible originally was written, it didn't have the numbered chapters and verses like it does today. Did you know that? For the longest time growing up I didn't know that. It was meant to be read like a regular book, from the beginning of each book to the end, straight through. The verses are not supposed to be picked out alone, when they are they loose their context. They loose their original meaning, because in context a verse can mean something completely different in the context of the rest of the text compared to that one verse standing by itself because you then can make it mean whatever you want it too. This is dangerous.
Let me give you a personal example.
I have tattoos. Shocker right? Satan! Sadly some people truly think that. They quote Leviticus 19:28 "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." It says it right there and people always throw that verse in my face. First off, it's Old Testament Law. Jesus set the New law. But if you still want to throw that verse out let's put context to it. Let's look at Leviticus 19:26-27, the two verses before it just as an example. This is a list of laws to distinguish the Jews from the rest of the cultures around them. To show that they were not like the rest and they were God's nation. When that verse it by itself, yes it says that, but we can't take one verse out, say it's God's law and then not follow the rest of the words that follow that verse. You have to look at the whole passage. Look at the verses prior to the tattoo one.
Leviticus 19:26-28 (NIV)
26 " `Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.".... Oops, there goes your medium steak. We Have to have our steaks extra well.
26b- " `Do not practice divination or sorcery. ".... Dang! There goes enjoying Harry Potter.
[27] " `Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." .... Shoot. Clean shaven is a sin according to this. Looks like we all have to look like we are from the Civil War.
So back to Jeremiah 29:11. God does promise us in this verse, but it gives the idea that God will never allow bad things to happen to us, and when they do, we say God is a liar and we doubt. This verse is out of context on it's own. If we look at the verse before, Jeremiah 29:10 we then see the true meaning of why God makes this promise.
Jeremiah 29:10 (NIV)
This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
Before the promise given in verse 11, God tells the Israelites once the 70 years of exile is completed in Babylon, then there is that promise, that promise is there while they are going through this exile. They most go through one of the darkest times if their life, still looking to God, because God knew what He was doing. Our plans are rarely God's plan.
God is saying that the Israelites had to go through the 70 years of pain, struggle, and exile from their home lands not only before God will carry out His promise, but they are going through this troubling time because it was part of His plan, He knew it would make them stronger. It would cause them to look to God first and then, and only when they complete their time in exile will God hold tom is promise.
God does have a plan. It may not be ours. God will allow us to go through trials, just as Israelites did, but it was apart on the plan from the beginning. For us to take Jeremiah 29:11 as it is, out of context, we get this glaze over our eyes that God will never allow bad things to happen to us. That's why people cling to this verse, and only this verse, and when the troubles come, they fall.
If we look at the verse just by itself, and believe it like this, that's when it becomes the worst verse in the Bible.
But when we look this verse, the verses before it and after, and realize the true context of the verse, and we realize that even through the difficult times, it's because it still is apart of His plan. It's not a promise that God will not allow bad things to happen to you, it's a promise that EVEN during the hard times that God is there with you and has a plan and there is a reason for the troubles, we just can't see it yet. Just as the Israelites went through 70 years of exile, we go through troubles with the knowledge that God has the plan.
When we look at Jeremiah 29:11 in it's context and realize the true meaning of it, that God is there with a promise through the tough times, this verse then becomes one of the best verses in the Bible.
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