How to Understand Jeremiah 29 (specifically Jeremiah 29:11 - 13)

George E. Sayour has authored a book on Jeremiah 29.

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So many of us find such comfort in the Scripture found in Jeremiah 29:11. It is therefore a wonder that so few people actually read any further. The entirety of Jeremiah 29 (specifically Jeremiah 29:5-14) has so much to tell us. This article will briefly explain how to understand these verses. For a more detailed description of how to apply these verses to one's life, check out the book "Plans To Prosper You" at the website www.plans2prosperU.com or from Amazon.com.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A Bible
A Prayerful Heart
A Love For God

Step 1

Verses 5-7:
"Build Houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there, do not decrease. Also seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it because if it prospers, you too will prosper"(Jeremiah 29:5-7,NIV)

After a brief introduction of the Israelites' less than ideal situation, God is telling them that they must "keep on keeping on," they must "stay the course." They are not to sit around, do nothing, and wait to be delivered. God wants them to have an abundant life in their current situation as they await the future plans he has for them. God wants you to live an abundant life now, even if your circumstances are less than ideal now. You must not sit around and do nothing. You must act.
Step 2

Verses 8-9:
"Yes this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 8-9, NIV)

False prophets were telling the people what they wanted to hear and the people were trusting in them. How often do we seek bad advice? How often do we give bad advice? We are to turn to God and direct others to God. Only God knows the plans He has for us.
Step 3

verse 10:
"This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to your and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place." Jeremiah 29:10, NIV)

As a people, the Jews would not return to the promised land until God was ready to return them. This is a classic lesson in God's timing. God's timing is not our own.
Step 4

verse 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." (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

And here is "the verse of hope." After God spent a few verses setting up the background of what the Jews were to do now and how long they would have to do it, He tells them that He has great plans for them.
Step 5

verses 12-14(partial):
"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity." (Jeremiah 29:12-14a, NIV)

In these 3 verses is the key to understanding Jeremiah 29. This is the condition to receiving the plans that God has for us in verse 11.
Step 6

Summary:
We all experience obstacles and go through life's trials. When we find ourselves in these situations we must not give up. We must do our part and continue living and being fruitful. God does have a plan for us but His plan might not be on our timing. We must pray to God and when we do, He will listen. We must seek Him with all of our hearts. Then and only then will we find Him and He will bring us out of our captivity to experience the plans He has for us. And finally, God does indeed want us to live an abundant life here on earth but the true plans He has for us will be realized when we meet Him.
Step 7

The book: Plans To Prosper You

More Reading: To learn more about Jeremiah 29 visit the website http://www.Plans2ProsperU.com and buy the book "Plans To Prosper You: Find Your Purpose Through Jeremiah 29" by George E. Sayour. You can also learn more about this book from Amazon.com.

Comments

akchrist said

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on 6/2/2008 This has been my favorite verse since 2004. I refer to it everytime I am going through trouble. This verse was shown to me by a Public Ajuster(a person that comes to your house after it has caught fire to help you with the insurance company). I was wondering why would God allow this to happen to me. He was actually thinking way far ahead of me and was protecting me and my kids. When the contractor went in the house to do an inspection he found 2 problems. First the house had been slowly falling in over time due to someone removing one of the supporting walls and secondly there were wires in the ceiling that were already sparking ready to cause another fire. The fire happened at the right time when no one was going to get hurt in order to fix these problems for the future. Thank you Lord for your plan for my future.