I am wrapping up tax season and am behind schedule. Instead of our regularly scheduled Manna for the Minds, enjoy an old youth series I created: “Thought Provokers”
What is one thing that you need right now? No, not coffee. I think you might need some motivation. The prophet Jeremiah talks about motivation in a way that both scares and motivates us.
Jeremiah 29:11 says: “‘I say this because I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future.’”
Theologians genuinely believe that this was written to the exiled Israelite to promise restoration after 70 years. This verse does not focus on individual success, but of the warnings of judgment. This promise of restoration is something we can use in our daily lives.
The “plans” that Jeremiah talks about is the Hebrew word “machashabaw,” which means plans or thoughts. Based on the other usages of this word, it can be explained as the thoughts or designs of your heart. This word is an expression of purposeful intention, primarily when referring to the building of the Tabernacle in Exodus. Let’s use this definition and apply it our lives.
God knows our thoughts and our heart. He knows what’s on our hearts and knows the structure of how he wants our hearts to be. I believe that is why God’s plans are called good and that those plans aren’t going to hurt us.
The word “good” is the Hebrew word “shalom,” which describes peace, wholeness, and completeness. The word “hurt” is the Hebrew word “ra’,” which means bad or evil.
God’s plans are complete and positive. God’s thoughts are more significant than our own and can bring us to completeness in him. God’s shalom counters our worldly view of security through wealth and control. His future isn’t about individual success but communal flourishing. This means that our thoughts can align with God’s and that we can become one to accomplish what God has called us to do on Earth. This kind of thinking won’t hurt us. They won’t be wrong or evil, which is good. Know this, we can take every thought captive and decide what do to with it.
The Hebrew word for “future” is “acharith,” which means the end. The Hebrew word for “hope” is “tiqvah,” which means cord. God plans to give us an end and a cord…seems odd. The “future” refers to the end of our earthly life, meaning that God will bless our lives into eternity.
Job 42:12 helps understand future in this context, which says: “The Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than the first part.”
Job 14:7 says: “There is hope for a tree. If you cut it down, it will grow again. It will keep sending out new branches.”
This verse talks about this cord. It refers to a confident expectation of everlasting life. The cord that binds our earthly life to our eternal life.
God has purposeful intentions for wholeness, not harm, offering a confident hope and a future – not guaranteed ease, but a divine faithfulness through exile and beyond.
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