Welcome back to Wednesday! Ya know, I never noticed how fast a week can be until we started this little journey. It seems that Wednesday comes around more often than I thought it did. But that’s okay, because God is speaking to us, right? Now, go pick out your favorite Jeremiah verse, drop a comment about it below or blog about it and leave a link, and then get ready for Lamentations next week…
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 know, I know. This is the most well-known and perhaps overused verse in all of Jeremiah. But you know what? We have a tendency to think something is worn out or somehow loses its meaning through repetition. And that’s wrong.
I discovered this verse twelve years ago, the very first time I ever read the entire Bible. It was—to my recollection—the first verse that ever personally spoke to me. At the time, I was still in the grip of a panic disorder that had first manifested eight years earlier. (Little did I know God would heal me in two more years!) When this verse first jumped out at me, I had no idea it was so popular. All I knew was it spoke to the me who battled fear and depression, who laid awake nights and cried and begged God to make her “normal.” For the first time, I really grasped that God had plans far beyond the bubble of my life I could see at the moment. Let me tell you… I gripped this verse and held it like a person drowning in quicksand holds a vine. And when one of my best friends endured a long hospitalization during a trip to England and faced down two heart surgeries in her very early twenties… She joined me in holding on to those words. That was another lesson… God gives you what you need right when you need it.
Life is uncertain for us a whole lot of times. It’s so amazing to know that God has a plan. He knows what’s coming next. And it will always be for my good. Hallelujah and Amen!
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
The verse that really stuck out to me this week was Jeremiah 5:30-31. It reads “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
Wow and Wow! Does this not sound like today’s world? I don’t understand how and why God would tolerate us. We really are a stupid people overall. We have been told repeatedly by God how to live. He even realized that we needed a real life example and gave us his son!
I don’t know why I bother to watch the news most nights because it aggravates me. I am a faithful fox news watcher, and it sickens me to see how far we stray from everything God has taught us. Even those of us who believe that what is going on in the world is wrong often don’t do anything about it. By not speaking up and actually acting like children of God, we are no better than the filth that goes on around us. I love the last line that asks “but what will you do in the end?”
I think this was such a simple, yet totally convicting question for me right now. I needed a real kick in the behind, and this was a good one. I wanted to yell at the people all throughout this book, but they are just like most of us. The biggest difference is that it really is too late for them, but not too late for me, you, or this world. Thank God for his grace and love, because we really don’t deserve it.
Jodie says
Oh, Dawn. I could have written those words myself. I look at our absolute rebellion against everything God has asked of us… I look at our unwillingness to do anything about it… And I wonder how long it will be before He finally loses his patience. It terrifies me to think of the consequences, but it gives me peace to know He is merciful. I don’t know. The Old Testament story of Israel shows He is not a God to be “trifled with,” and that He will act. He is so merciful and so patient that He is waiting, but… You have to wonder how much longer it will be. I wish all of us would rise up and speak the truth instead of bowing to the god of tolerance, ya know?
Jen says
Okay, I wasn’t going to do 29:11, but it really is my favorite! The one I chose, though, is Jeremiah 15: 19- “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me…”
The first time I read this, I couldn’t help but think of Payton. Because of her story and what God did through it, I experienced true repentance and restoration nearly four years ago. I told her parents at her memorial service that I would always be on their side fighting pediatric cancer on her behalf, but looking back, I can see that my passion was only half-hearted. It wasn’t until six months later, when God had taken me to a place where I was forced to surrender every bit of pride I had, that passion became real to me. At that point, I not only had a passion for cancer, but I now had a passion for what God was doing inside of me as well. My testimony and Payton’s story have been intertwined ever since. I can’t share one without the other. I’ve always felt like my writing, volunteering, and being an advocate for these kids is a small way to tell God thanks for what He did in my life. He restored me, and I’m able to serve Him in a unique way because of it. I have to believe that’s how He intended for it to work. Just think what a shame it would be if there was all of this repenting going on, and no one ever shared their story, never turned their restoration into service. I’m thinking the world would be a much sadder place with a lot less people knowing the power of redemption!
Jodie says
I love your story. And your passion is clear to anyone who knows you!
Audra Krell says
Oh how I love Jer. 29:11. I never, ever tire of it. What a verse full of promise. He KNOWS the plan. And every single bit of it, is, and will be for our good. When I don’t get something I want, I remember that God has something even better down the road. It really gets me through daily hard times.
Jodie says
Same here. It helps so much to know that God already knows, and nothing is going to surprise Him!