10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 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. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
Dear God, this might be offensive to some because they use it a lot, but this verse has never really done anything for me. People take verse 11 in isolation instead of keeping it in the context of what you said in verse 10. It kind of goes back to my idea that we measure time in days, weeks, and months while you measure time in years, decades, and centuries. The Israelites were in Egypt of over 400 years (that’s a lot of generations who were born, lived, and died in captivity). In this case, a lot of people will die before the Israelites leave Babylon. I know the previous verses say they should settle in and build houses while they are there and their work will be blessed, but the “hope” and “future” in verse 11 are more for their children and grandchildren than they are for the hearers of this word. Yes, the hope is theirs, but the hope isn’t for their own freedom, but for the freedom of generations to come.
I don’t know why I’ve gone off on this except that I saw this verse on Bible Gateway’s verse of the day and I instantly felt annoyed. I get tired of everyone thinking that life owes them prosperity now, or within the next year as opposed to much, much later or maybe never at all. I wonder if that is a human thing or just a Western culture thing. How does a Christian in Africa or India read this verse? Do they expect that the prosperity is for them, or do they realize that it might be for them or it might be for future generations?
Father, I live a life that is remarkably blessed. I get to see it up close and personal every day at work. My family is health. I am healthy. I have more money in the bank that any of our clients. I drive a nice vehicle. We can afford college for our children. Though some middle class people and certainly upper class people wouldn’t look at me as wealthy, I do. I feel like you have prospered me beyond anything I deserve. So thank you. Thank you for the blessing of my parents. Thank you for all of the good that you have brought into my life. I know it is from you. I’m not looking for anything else. The only other thing that I want is that I want to expect more of myself in my submission to you at any given moment.
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