These are nice verses to read: God has good plans for us.
You'd imagine hearing them in a country church where all is calm and peaceful and everyone is happy and content.
The actual historical context is a mind-exploder.
These are words that the prophet Jeremiah, sitting under siege conditions in Jerusalem, is writing to the exiles in Babylon. (The Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and deported a large number of people and left the Israelites as a puppet-state. The puppet-state rebelled and Babylon would ultimately destroy Jerusalem completely.)
Babylon was the place where the Israelites "sat down and wept as they remembered Zion." (Ps.137) Things were so bad in Babylon that the same psalm has words that indicate their dislike of their circumstances: "Blessed and happy is he who takes the babies of Babylon and dashes their heads on the rocks" (This is how disillusioned God's people were with their circumstances!)
So when God prompts Jeremiah to write these promises to Israelite exiles in Babylon - you can just imagine them saying:
"Yeah right!!!! How could God _possibly_ work in my horrendous circumstances!"
But He did, and He can, and He does!
Israel prospered in Babylon and with the help of Ezekiel the prophet, they came back from exile with a clearer picture of God than they had had in a long time. They were able to rebuild and grow.
Our circumstances may seem grim, but God is greater than our circumstances! He has good plans for us - no matter how grim the present may seem!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
