I Know the Plans I Have for You | Jeremiah 29:1-14

Show Notes

Episode 841: 
In this episode, The Bible Guys read and unpack Jeremiah chapter 29, exploring God’s message to Israel during their 70 years in Babylon. We discuss the weeping prophet Jeremiah, false prophets, and the biblical call to resilience — building, planting, serving, and trusting God in seasons we didn’t choose. If you’ve ever felt like God isn’t working, this episode offers a grounded, hope-filled look at what God’s plans really mean — and why context matters.

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys, and we are excited to launch another week of hopefully good stuff. Launch. Launch, that's a good word. Well, we're kicking off launch. Just nobody comes out to like watch grass grow or something, but people come out and watch rockets launch. Yeah, they really do. Yeah. Yeah. I had a good friend who used to go to the Keney Center and actually whenever they would launch a space shuttle or something, and he would just go take pictures of it. Yeah, phenomenal. So I saying it's gonna be super be like that. Yes, this week, it's. Just like a great big rocket picking up. It's gonna be amazing. Ground's gonna rumble, yeah, make a big mess. Hey, we have a theme this week. We're talking about God's purpose and future for us. Yeah, that's gonna be purpose in future. I'm looking forward. So yeah, before we dive into that, though, Desiree wants us to do Who's most likely? Which we like? Yes? Which we like? So I literally just open this a few seconds ago. Yes, I haven't even read these yet. No, I haven't read them either. I knew we were doing Who's most likely, but I have not read them. So you want to take. The who's most likely to dress their pet in an embarrassing Christmas costume? That would definitely be you? Is it is me? Well? We Yeah, I don't know. Gucci has been wearing a lot of bandanas lately. There you go that I rest my case your honor. That is the defense rest. I have never put a single piece of clothing on any of my animals, and your animals are named Gucci Chanel. That's right. Yeah, so you win. You're most likely. By the way, my father though, would have dogs and he would dress them up all the time. Yeah. Yeah, and so the most recent dog just passed away. I don't know why I said that, but there you go. All right. Number two, who's most likely to panic wrap gifts at eleven fifty nine pm on christ See, that'd be you two. Yes, okay, I've I've been wrapping presents way after eleven. Fifty right right on Christmas Day? Yeah, at one a m. Yeah, that's what about you? Are you? Well? I would say our entire married life, Liz has just been on it, right, So, uh so she is in early like right now, I think everything is purchased for Christmas. Wow, and she'll wrap several days before and they'll be under the tree well before Christmas Eve. Oh wow. Yeah yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. And by the way, growing up, we never wrapped our gifts. Well we did, we didn't, We didn't. We went through a phase where we didn't as kids, but then later on we did. Yeah. So, anyway, who's most likely to recret We request Mariah Carrey at every party. That would definitely that's gonna be you. That would definitely be me. And I think you know somehow. That Christmas I think it's Christmas party, right, every good party. But by the way, I think I think, uh, I think Desiree probably knew that. Did I tell you I was a part of the Mariah Carey fan club? Yes, I knew that. You told us on this on this show yeh yeah yeah. And and and it was uh until I did it, until I realized what it was, and I was like, get me out of this thing as fast as I can get out. So but yeah, when she first came out, I was I was pretty uh taken with her voice, okay, and then how about this one? Who's most likely to wrap a gift so badly that it looks like a crumpled burrito. I'm struggling with this question. I didn't know the fact that it looks like a crumpled burrito means it's wrapped badly. Oh, I'm struggling with this question. Hey, I've done it on me too. I'm a varible wrap. Have you ever rolled something and then just grabbed the ends and twisted them and then just take it? It works? Yeah, I've done it, so I think maybe it's a tie. Well, definitely you. Then let's let's give that one to you. Okay, all right? Why definitely need when you've done it too? Because you gave a specific example. I was just admitting it, but it was a confusing question to me. I'm like, everything I rap looks. Like a crumble over. That's so funny. All right. Who's most likely to start a debate about whether Diehard is a Christmas movie? Oh? God, probably me, because I care about those conversations. Yeah, and you're you're a big movie guy, so is it? And well, Chris Bruce Willis, I'm not kidding when I say this. I literally watched a clip two days ago of Bruce Willis at some award show and he was sort of making a joke. But he got up there and he goes, I just want to set the record straight. He goes, die Hard is not a Christmas movie, and the whole audience started laughing. But he could have said it is, but he said it's not. So I'm going to go on record and say it's not. It's not. I think of it as a Christmas movie and I try to watch it at Christmas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so so yeah. The boss of me it says that he didn't pay for the movie, nor was he the director of the movie, a producer or a director. Right, he's just an actor. He don't know. He didn't write the screen. He don't know, he didn't write the script. He doesn't know what these people's intention was. Yeah. Well, the ending, the ending song when the credits roll up is oh the weather outside is fried for right, And I'm thinking, like, I'm like, you know, he dresses the bad guype and a Santa hat ho ho ho. Right, Yeah, I mean it's definitely at Christmas, and all that takes place on Christmas Eve, So I mean. It's like growing up Home Alone. Yeah, right, right, I can tell me Plaza alone. Yeah that is so funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I would definitely say for me, I think it is a Christmas movie. But Bruce Willis says no, but. So it's not about Christmas. Correct, But neither is Home Alone? So is Home Alone a Christmas movie? It sure is? Okay, Yeah, they're the same, they are the same. Wait a minute, I have never made that comparison. You have opened my mind, and it is. It is amazing. It's amazing. Die Hard is a grown up Home Alone. It is and and and just like Kevin takes out the two bad guys, yes, rus Willis stakes out. The whole army, twelve bad guys with rocket launchers. Yeah, holy cow wow, it's the same. Yeah. And Kevin protects the home. He protects thoughts about Christmas. It's just set at Christmas time. That's right. Wow. I'm just telling you. If Home Alone is a Christmas movie, then so is die Hard. That's how I feel about it. Okay. None of the other die Hard movies, I don't I don't think that they are. But this one, well, you said that, I'm likely to start a debate and I did start the date, but you ended it. There you go, because you have convinced me I will no longer ever have this debate. Yeah, it's just his opinion, but he don't know. Yeah, most of those people. Have you ever you've heard him before. I was listening to the thing recently, Kevin U not Bateman, Jason Jason. Jason Bateman was talking about how much he likes directing. He enjoys acting, He loves directing, and he said the director knows the whole story. And a lot of times actors. Because they shoot it out of order, have a hard time imagining how the movie's going to turn out, right, And so he said, there's a lot of anxiety as an actor, going, I don't know how this is going to turn out. I think it was good, you know, and then they're surprised. When they see the editing and it's edited well and the shots were great. Then you go, that was amazing. He said, it's really is that the producers the I mean, it's the directors and the editors that make it great. And he said he said, I like it because I'm I feel like I'm steering the whole story. And so maybe Bruce Willis just reading the script and then doing it out of order, felt like it wasn't a Christmas movie. But well this was twenty years later, so I mean, you. Know, anyways, he should have known, he should have he should. Have consulted me first before he went on the record. There you go, made a fool of himself. And right now he's you know, he's he strugg one. Yeah, he's struggling. Well, well, hey, that was a great segment, riveting. We solved it. We we definitively solved this major issue. And you're you are oh no, I won three to two. Yeah, it was three to two. Yeah, all right, well that's good segment. Well, Jeff, we are you know, you know, you know what else is not a Christmas thing? That's your transition. Jeremiah. Okay, yeah, that's true. Well Jeremiah is the Weeping Prophet, Yes he is. Yeah, and uh and by the way, how would you like to you know, have that name and it's and it's attached to you like we get to heaven and it's like doubting Thomas, the Weeping Prophet Jeremiah. It's like these guys who have the bad reputations, right, It's like that's pretty sad. Do you think you think maybe he gets that, like or do you think we do away with that in heaven we longer like attached weeping to him, because. Yeah, the weeping prophet doubting Thomas, Hey, doubting, Hey dt. You remember last year on Christmas you talked about doubting Thomas, and I go, I said, we're gonna get to heaven and we're gonna go up there and say, hey, dowbting Thomas. He's gonna go dude, just it was one time. It's just Thomas, I did it one time. There you go. So yeah, but anyway, So Jeremiah chapter twenty nine, Yeah, we're focusing on verse number eleven, that's. Right, and I think we're just going to read a few verses here. The prophet is telling the people about the fact that they're going to be exiled to Babylon. It's going to last seventy years. He's grieving over the fact that it's just his worst nightmare is about ready to happen. The people don't believe it, that people don't care. They're refusing to repent all these things. And then God speaks through Jeremiah and he says this and. By the way, this this is the same exile where Daniel was taken captive, right to Babylon. Right, yes, so he writes a letter. You know, I'll just start at verse one and we'll read through like verse. Thirteen or I agree or something. Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King Nebukinezer. This was after King Jehoiakin, the Queen mother, the court officials, the other officials of Judah, and all the craftsmen artisans have been deported from Jerusalem. And he sent the letter to Elisa son of Schaifan and Gameria son of Hilkiah, when they had been went to Babylon as King Zadekia's ambassadors to Nebukinezer. This is what Jeremiah's letter said. This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem. Build homes and plan to stay, plant gardens and eat the food they produce, marry and have children. Then find spouses for them, so that you may have many grandchildren multiply. Do not dwindle away and work for the He's some prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare. This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies set, the God of Israel says. Do not let your prophets and fortune tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick. You don't listen to their dreams, because they're telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them, says the Lord. This is what the Lord says. You will be in Babylon for seventy years, but then I will come and do for you all the good things I've promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. There are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope in those days when you pray, I'll listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you, says the Lord. I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you, and I will bring you home again to your land. Then he goes on he complains, there's going to be all these fake prophets going no, no, no, God's gonna let us go right now, or no no, no, God's never gonna gonna, you know, set us free. Whatever. So he's sending to these people they've already been captured, they've already been taken to Babylon, they had rebelled against God. He's been grieving over that. But now he's saying, listen, God says it's temporary. It's not gonna last forever. It's gonna be this one long generation seventy years. And then when it's over, it's over, and God's going to restore you. But don't listen to these fake guys. And then when you get to the rest of this letter, it's the same, but false prophet is going to come and tell you something other than. What I told you. Now. Now, Jeremiah is known to be a prophet that no one listened to. Technically right, right, right, So do you think that his words were received with authority? And like they're like I read this and I think to myself, well, no one probably listened, yeah, right, because I mean, I mean obviously when they say no one listened, they're talking about converts, right, right, So maybe maybe he did carry authority. Besides that, I don't know, but but I very much whenever I am in Jeremiah at all, I very much think to myself, out of all the ministry experience that I hear about poor Jeremiah, you know, having an entire ministry and not having one single convert, I always feel bad for Jeremiah. Well, I think it's one of those things. You know, you had Daniel, he was a young man. You had the guys who became shadrag me shake in a bed and to go yep, that right. You have these guys that are are following God too. There's always a remnant. And I think godly people tend to pay attention to other godly people. They're trying to They're probably trying to do that. So they probably recognized. What he wrote. They were hopeful they believed him, But it would have been afterwards when what Jeremiah said was true came true, right that the other rabbis, the other godly men that were trying to figure it out, go hey, Jeremiah told us this seventy years ago, right, right, and then that's when they would have life. But yeah, during his lifetime, it was a tremendous burden I think for him to carry it, to never really have any he never felt like he had any success. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's a that's a tough that's a tough gig, and you know it. I think that there's a sermon. I mean, obviously I've preached sermons in Jeremiah, but you know the idea of like thinking that God's not working, God's not doing anything. I'm trying, I'm serving him, you know, it feels like a one way relationship. You know, It's like I'm giving, given, giving, and I feel like I'm not getting anything in return. I mean, those are some pretty desperate feelings, and there have been seasons of my life where I have definitely felt like that. In fact, in the lowest point of my life, one of the lowest, in fact, maybe the lowest, No, one of the lowest. I would definitely say I actually said to God that I felt like Jeremiah. Yeah, so I definitely relate to it, Yeah, or at least the feeling not. I mean, I can't compare myself to Jeremiah, that'd be so. But you know what I mean, Yeah, sure, that's what it felt like. You were identifying with him. Yeah that moment. Yeah, Well, that's why God gives us all these people, he says multiple times. Peter reminds us of this. They tell us in the Book of Acts that God gave all of these for our benefit, for our understanding, so that we would understand how God works. Right, So all the stories in the Old Testament are there for our example. And so you're looking at going I identify right now. I'm not identifying with David killing Goliath. I'm identifying with Jeremiah feeling like there's nobody on my side right right, and the reason why he gives it. So even like this, this promise that we have today for I know the thoughts I have towards you, the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Their plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and hope. I know we love to claim those. God wasn't saying that directly to me, I directly. He was talking directly to the Hebrew people, the Jewish people that. Were in Babylon. But what I am able to do is I can take the principle and see how God, even when these people are under judgment or in the worst time of their entire lives. God, I can look at the principle of how God deals with it goes. But I still know what I want to do with you. I haven't given up on you yet. And if you come looking for me, you'll find me. I'll be found by you, says the Lord. Right. So the principle is. If I turn and come to God, I can find him again, even though I've walked way away from him, And even when he has to bring me under difficult circumstances, he's still forming, not against me. Those principles apply to me and everybody else, right, And so I love the words. I love those things. And so it's all for our example. Even though it wasn't written directly to us. We can see how God acts with the people he loves. And so let me play, let me play a little bit of an advocate here or devil's advocate. So then if that's true, if God, or if Jeremiah wrote this specifically for the future of the of the people, then when we read Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven, which by the way, is a very very popular version, right. And people always say, hey, God's plans for you are to give you a prosperous future and success, and they quote verse number eleven, which says, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, their plans for good and offer disaster to give you a future and a hope. Yeah. I guess that's what the NLT says. Huh so, and I know what you're saying. You're saying the principles of God are true. But that was a specific prophecy for them. He was saying, Hey, it's not going to last forever. It's seventy years and then I will prosper you. And that's the promise for those people. So can we transfer that to us? Yeah? I think that. So I can't transfer this promise and you'll be in Babylon for seventy years, because you've got to remember this promise. There are no. Verse endings here, right, So this is a whole big comment God's making. And he starts off going, you're going to be in Babylon for seventy years. If you're not going to be in Babylon for seventy years, then the rest of it's not rate directly at you either, right, But the principle is, even when you're under correction from God, even when you're in your worst situations in life, even God's saying, hey, that'll come to an end and I'm for you, not against you, and that that principle applies to all of us, even though we're not specifically in Babylon for seventy years. Right. Yeah, yeah, So. There is something I like, you know, I've been writing this little, this devotional thing. I don't think I've ever said this on the podcast. I've been writing this devotional thing about it's just called the Man Book right now. I haven't decided what I'm going to call it, but that's just what it is in my notes. And it's kind of like this devotional about biblical manhood or whatever. And I'm just kind of going through different character traits that the Bible talks about how a man engages in the world around him from a Biblical perspective. So I think it's a lot of really bad representations on TikTok, you know, on TikTok the Tate Brothers or whatever, it's all about power and money and naked women. And fast cars and all this stuff, right, and that's just not God's way. Boys keep taking and men give right. There's a big difference between those two things. And so I decided to do it. And so I've been going through these different character traits, and one of them is resiliency. And I think it's really amazing to me that God sends the prophet to tell the people, Hey, listen, you might as well go ahead and buckle down. Just adapt because you can be there a while. But God doesn't say just give up, right. God says, build houses, plan to stay, plant gardens, eat the fruit, food, produce, marry and have children, find spouses for them, so you have lots of grandchildren. Multiply, don't dwindle away. You know, we would be tempted when we're in the middle of a bad situation, where tempted to just give up. And God's like prosper in it. Find a way to just be resilient. Buckle down, find a way, he says, multiply here. And then he says, and then work for peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile, Work for the better man of where you're at. Pray for the pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare, We'll determine your welfare. Well, God, if I'm stuck here, make this better, right, And I think there's something to this idea of being resilient saying, you know what, this isn't what I chose, but I'm going to make where I'm at better. I think of like. Joseph, I was just gonna say that Joseph Daniel, same thing. Some of the so so Joseph and Daniel, we don't have really anything, no smirches on their character. If you want to complain about the fact that Joseph was a little bit immature when he told his brothers about his. Dream, he's accused of being like a brat. Yeah, yeah, if that's the worst thing. He was immature, Yeah he was a teenager. But man, he ran away from temptation. He thrived in prison, he thrived in slavery. And then Daniel's same thing. We have nothing negative to say about Daniel in this time slot right here. He just stood for God. He did everything. These young men were resilient and they rose to the top in the worst possible moments. So which would it be better? Would it be better to be that shopkeeper that kept all this bitterness and gave up and just rah. Or would it be better to be Daniel to rise to the top of the kingdom or Joseph to rise to the top of the kingdom? Right, make something out of the situation you're in. And you know, when God gives you a lemons right kind of an idea, make lemonade. And that's what I think that this passage is saying, Hey, listen, it's going to be tough, but it's also going to be what you make it right. Make a house, make a family, raise some kids, eat some good food, just pray for the prosperity of your city. And even then, under God's judgment, God was saying, hey, you can still make a good life. You're just not at home. So somebody's out there and they're working for somebody they don't like. They're in a situation that they don't like. They have family that they have to deal with that they don't appreciate, and so hey, the message rings true for us. Just be the best Christian and servant of Christ by serving others, make the best of your situation, be a positive influence, be a source of hope and truth, and love and make a difference of the world around you, because when you do those things, you sow those seeds, then nothing but those good things are going to come back to you. It's certainly going to be better than like you said, bitterness, so seeds of bitterness. Bitterness eats you alive, right, it does. Proverbs says, bitterness about your situation or about life, about other people rots the bones. That's how Solomon talks about it, right. And it's in that context of resiliency that God says, because I already know the plans I have for you, they're not to harm you, right, they're to prosper you. I'll be found by you if you come looking for me. Right. It's in that context of he says, be resilient, and I just know that I haven't given up on you, and when you come looking for me, you'll find me. Right. It's all those things. They're connected. And a lot of times we want to read one verse outside of the whole idea, right, But you understand this is a whole letter. We started at the beginning of the letter, we ended in the middle of the letter. But the whole letter matters, not just one Our favorite little sentence it's like that. You know, you talked about that several a couple of weeks ago. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me being on the wall in the gym, and I'm like, that should probably be sitting over your desk where you pay your bills, because it's about generosity, right, It's about your It's about your perspective on money. Not bench pressure. It's not about yeah I could do it. I can do it. That's what God says. So so yeah, sure, if that inspires you to do more, that's great, but it's not what it means. That's right, And it's the same thing here. Read the whole passage and you really realize the whole passage is resiliency is the only way to thrive in a bad situation. And then trust me, I'm gonna be here for you. Right, those two things are connected. I love it. So it's encouraging to me through a bunch of bad stuff. Just don't give up. That's great. Well, hey, that's a that's our time and it's a good place to end. So hopefully we'll see you tomorrow on the bibble guys. Mhm hm hm