Encouragement (Part 1): Week 6, Day 3

This is our last study of encouragement (for now).  You have made it through six weeks of faithful study of the Word of God.  I hope that you have been blessed by this study.  I know that I have been!  Today we are going to APPLY Jeremiah 29:1-14 to our lives, and find encouragement in God's Word.

Read through the passage again.

God is telling the people of Israel who were exiled to Babylon that they were going to remain there for a significant period of time, so they needed to live their lives.  Build their houses.  Plant their gardens.  Marry and have children.  Continue to grow the nation of Israel; do not let it decrease.  This is a mighty reminder that God is going to do what God says he is going to do.  He had been warning the people about this exile, and they continued to walk in their own ways.  Now, He was fulfilling what He had promised.  The people needed to recognize that God's ways were going to happen.

The people of Israel had made a major mistake in their lives.  They had listened to false teachers.  They prophesied falsely in the name of the Lord, and the people listened.  Instead of listening to Jeremiah, the true prophet of God, they chose to listen to these false teachers.  In present time, this world is full of false teachers.  How can we be sure that we do not listen to them?  We must know and understand what the Word of God says.  That is one of the reasons why Bible study is so important.  The more we study God's Word, the more we are able to discern when the teaching is false.

Even though the people of Israel had sinned against God, even though they had worshiped false idols, even though they had listened to false teachers, God is still merciful.  He is a just God, and He punishes sin.  Verse 10 says that the people will remain in Babylon for 70 years.  That is the length of their punishment - that is God's justice.  Verse 10 also says that after the 70 years, God was going to bring the people of Israel back to their land - that is God's mercy.  This is an awesome thing that we need to remember in our lives.  God punishes sin, making Him just.  God also forgives sin, making Him loving.  We have to respect every aspect of God equally.  But we can also expect forgiveness, if we confess our sins to God.  Look at the promise of God in 1 John 1:9.

Verse 11 shows the Sovereignty of God.  God is promising to His people a future and a hope.  His plans for His people are not calamity, but hope.  Yes, they are going to be in exile for 70 years.  They deserved that punishment,  But that is not the end of the nation of Israel.  God will prevail!

Verse 12 and 13 tell us that if we call to God, He will listen to us.  If we search for God with all of our hearts, we will find Him.

Once again in your notebooks, write out Jeremiah 29:10-14.  This is a mighty word of encouragement that we can hide in our hearts.  God knows the plans that He has for us.  He is not writing our stories day by day.  Our stories are already written, and they are stories of hope and a future.  We studied about the Highway of Holiness - that is our future.  We talked about Jesus Christ dying for our sins and giving us eternal life - that is our hope.

As believers, we have a responsibility to call out to the Lord and seek Him.  Yes, He is our future and hope, but we are told very clearly that we will only find God when we look for Him with all our hearts.  We cannot put half of our effort into our relationship with God.  He is worthy of, and demands, our whole heart.

Be encouraged, my sisters.  God has big plans for you.  Plans to give you a future and a hope.  But, you must remain faithful to Him.  The Israelites were unfaithful to God and had to spend 70 years in exile.  Remain faithful to God.  Stay in His Word.  Remember that He has awesome plans for you.

I have truly enjoyed this study.  There will be more in the future.  I hope that you will come back soon and see what else the Lord has to show us in His Word.

To read the previous posts on Encouragement, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 4: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 5: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 6: Day 1, Day 2

Encouragement (Part 1): Week 6, Day 2

Today we are going to INTERPRET Jeremiah 29:1-14.  As with any passage of Scripture, it is important to interpret the text based on the text itself.  When you are dealing with Scripture that is familiar, it is even more so important to interpret the text based off the text, not based off what we think, what someone has told us, what we have heard previously, etc.  There is an extremely familiar verse in this passage, and we need to be careful to listen to the message that the text has to tell us.

Read through Jeremiah 29:1-14 slowly, absorbing the words for what they actually say.

Read the passage again, and answer the following in your notebooks:

1. Summarize what the Lord is telling the people in verses 5-7.
2. What mistake had the people made in verses 8 and 9?
3. What promise does God make to His people in verse 10?  In verse 11?
4. What final promise does God make to His people in verse 14?

What do you think the people are feeling in verses 1-9?  How do you think they feel after listening to what God said in verses 10-14?

Be encouraged, sisters.  God always has a plan!  Tomorrow we are going to APPLY this Scripture to our lives.

To read all of the posts on Encouragement, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 4: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 5: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 6: Day 1

Encouragement (Part 1): Week 6, Day 1

Well, sisters, we have made it to the last week of this study.  You have been so faithful to learning the ways of the Lord.  This will be our last week of studying Encouragement in the Old Testament.

Today we are going to OBSERVE Jeremiah 29:1-14.  Over and over again in Scripture, God is revealing His plan for the redemption of a fallen world.  In the Old Testament times God used prophets to speak directly to His people.  He had used the prophet Jeremiah to warn the people to turn from their wicked ways, repent of their sins, and return to the Lord.  The people refused to do so, so their punishment was a 70 year exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Jeremiah 29 is written after the people had been taken to Babylon.  Read the passage slowly, absorbing the words.  Don't try to understand it now, that will come with time.  Just read to see what the words are saying.

29 Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 

2 (This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) 

3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, 

4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 

5 ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. 

6 Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. 

7 Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’ 

8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. 

9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord.

10 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 

11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 

12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 

13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 

14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." 

Now read the passage again, and use the following markings:

• Mark God and Lord with a purple triangle colored yellow (color all pronouns yellow)
• Mark Jerusalem and Israel with a blue star of  David
• Mark Babylon with a green B
• Mark all time phrases with a green clock
• Circle the word "for" in verse 11 and the word "because" in verse 19 red

Now that you have marked the text, read the passage again.  Jeremiah 29:11 is a very familiar verse of Scripture, and one of my favorites.  Copy this verse into your notebook and be encouraged with it's message.

Our next study will look at INTERPRETING this passage of Scripture.

To read the previous posts on Encouragement, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 4: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 5: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3