Saturday, January 19, 2019 – Archived Post from Salvation Soldier Blog
I recently shared a meme on my newsfeed where the Apostle Peter was hanging upside down on a cross, as it is traditionally held that he was crucified in this way. The words of the meme said: “God has a wonderful plan for your life Peter.”
In my reasonably comfortable position at a chair at my dining room table with my freedom of religion and my centralized air and heat keeping me cozy it seems almost humorous that Peter could have been thinking God had a wonderful plan for his life as he faced his execution in such a grisly way. As I think over the implications of this popularly preached message, I of course could spiritualize everything and remember that Peter’s death for Jesus would bring him great reward in heaven. The context in which the message, “God has a wonderful plan for your life” is commonly preached, however, suggests to me there is at least some misunderstanding of the calling of Jesus to give up our very lives for the sake of the gospel.
Jeremiah 29:11 is quoted again and again among Christians to instill confidence and hope that God has, well, a wonderful plan for our lives. Have you ever before put the verse in context though?
“For I know the plans I have in mind for you,” declares ADONAI, “plans for Shalom and not calamity – to give you a future and to hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 TLV
Did you know this passage is a direct call to the Jewish people to come back to the words of God? This is a call to say that God’s word is trustworthy and that the people of Judah should keep trusting even in the most difficult times.
In chapter 28 of Jeremiah a prophet name Hananiah comes to the people of Judah who had recently been captured and brought into captivity by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Hananiah has a message of Hope, claiming that they would return to Jerusalem in just two years! Sounds great for the people of Judah until God reveals to Jeremiah that he never gave Hananiah any such message; it was all a lie!
Afterwards, in chapter 29, a prophecy was given to Jeremiah that the capitivity would last for 70 years, and that the people should settle down, marry, and seek the peace of the city that they are in. It is this prophecy that is the context of Jeremiah 29:11. The plans to “prosper” the people is a call to trust the Lord even though most people hearing the message would not even be alive when the Jews began their return to Jerusalem. God calls the people to seek the peace of God and to put their hope and trust in Him even in the most difficult of circumstances.
To me the most exciting part is verse 13, “you will seek and find me if you seek with all your heart.” This reveals the character of God, not that He is necessarily going to make our lives easier or better in the sense that most people think of today, but that we might have something of the most eternal value possible, which is only desirable to a true believer. That we might know God, He will answer those who earnestly seek him.
I was once asked by a questioning woman, “doesn’t God want me to be happy?” This woman didn’t attend church, didn’t know scripture, don’t make much room in her daily life for God at all, yet had come to a conclusion after years of ignoring God and going her own way that the difficult circumstances in her life were being caused by God.
God doesn’t promise us happiness, but if we love Him and give up our lives for Him, he promises us his very presence. To me that is worth everything.