“Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all powders of the merchant? Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; Threescore valiant men are about it, Of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords, Being expert in war: Every man hath his sword upon his thigh Because of fear in the night. King Solomon made himself a chariot Of the wood of Lebanon. He made the pillars thereof of silver, The bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, The midst thereof being paved with love, For the daughters of Jerusalem. Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, And behold king Solomon With the crown wherewith his mother crowned him In the day of his espousals, And in the day of the gladness of his heart.”
Song of Solomon 3:6-11 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/sng.3.6-11.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 ...