“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: But the LORD delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: Not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked: And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.”
Psalm 34:19-22 KJV,https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.34.19-22.KJV
The Best Plans
Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse that’s often slapped onto journals, etched into coffee mugs, and printed on t-shirts.
“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 God does have a plan for you.
God does want to bless you.
God does want to give you hope and a future.
But, we should also pay attention to the original context …
In this case, God was speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah—people who’d recently been exiled to Babylon for 70 years.
The Jewish people were banished to a foreign land because of their insatiable appetite for sin. In fact, for 23 years Jeremiah had been warning them to stop rebelling against God or prepare to face the consequences.
God is patient, but He is also just.
In other words, the Jews were sent to timeout. And as you can read in the preceding chapters, God made a case against His ...