Jeremiah's Most Famous Words

The words we hold dear from Jeremiah come from a letter he wrote to his own people as they were dragged off into exile to the nation of Babylon. 

Yes. God knows the plans He has for us. But sometimes, those plans lead through a dark valley. 

Jeremiah 29:1–2 (ESV) These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem.

Let's first acknowledge that this is a letter from the prophet to the people. The Jews made a name for their existence and sustained their existence by doing something regularly - writing. The Bible is filled with letters from and to many people in the Bible and beyond. The largest portion of the New Testament is composed of letters to the nations. Letters, writings, and correspondence saturate the pages of the Holy Scripture. 

Here the Jews are, in their darkest moment. Exiled to Babylon after years of not listening to Jeremiah's preaching and not repenting for their sins, they get a letter. 

In that letter, God confirms perhaps what they did not want to hear. He did this to them, on purpose.

Jeremiah 29:4 (ESV) “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

Now, there's more to this letter, but let us not gloss over the Lord's confirmation of His activity in their deprivation. He is always in charge, even in our pain. 

But He's always communicating. That's the thing! He's always speaking if we will listen even when we don't enjoy our condition. Because what Israel is experiencing at this moment is perhaps the most significant. God advises them what to do now that He has sent them into the hands of their enemies. 

Jeremiah 29:5–7 (ESV) Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

God speaks and encourages them to engage with the commercial infrastructure of their captors. This is not a time to whine about the past; this is a time to build something for their future. They need to do what God has repeatedly expected and blessed them to do - MULTIPLY. They are to think generationally. They are to live at peace with all men. They are to pray and increase in measure even in a place they didn't want to be. 

That's the value of having an ear open to God's communication. He will tell you how to handle the horrible situation He puts you in because you didn't listen when He was telling you things beforehand. 

It is in THIS important context God speaks the most famous lines in Jeremiah. 

Jeremiah 29:10–11 (ESV) “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

You may not like what's going on in your life, and you may even rightfully blame God for it. But it's not the time to whine. It's the time to incline your ear and hear what He has to say because His plans don't end.

Ever.