God’s intentions for your life

You’ve probably heard preachers proclaim that God has a plan for your life. In many books and sermons, they quote Jeremiah 29:11 to underline their teaching:

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. (NIV)

By reading that verse, they conclude that God as an individual plan for each and every person. To live according to God’s will, people must find that plan and follow a specific lane. But is this really the core doctrine of that Scripture?

In this blog post, I’m going to shed light on the context of Jeremiah 29 and the meaning of „plan“ in verse 11. 

In 597 B.C., king Nebuchadnezzar marched into Jerusalem, took many members of Israel’s upper-class captive, and deported them to Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah writes a letter to the Israelites in exile (Jeremiah 29:1). God instructs them to settle down in Babylon and lead an ordinary life. In verse 10, he promises to bring them back to Israel after a period of 70 years because he as good intentions towards his people (verse 11). It’s God’s deep desire to restore the relationship to his nation.

The Hebrew term the NIV translates „plan“ מחשׁבה has several meanings. Depending on the context it means; thought, intention, plan, or purpose. 

In Jeremiah 29,11 God assures that he has good intentions towards his people. He wants them to prosper and not suffer any harm. Therefore, he gives hope by promising them a good future when they will return to Israel after a 70-year-period. 

That Bible verse doesn’t attest to the theory that God has an individual plan for every person on earth. Rather, it says that God has good intentions towards his people. He doesn’t want them to be in exile forever, but he will lead them back home to Israel. 

Due to the New Covenant, you belong to God’s chosen people as well (1. Peter 2:9-10). And God’s intentions for his people haven’t changed. He thinks good thoughts about you as well and he wants you to have a good future. 

What about this „plan of God“ that’s being preached so frequently?

When we turn to different stories of the Bible, we realize that God indeed has a calling for every person. In the lives of Abraham, Mose, David, Joseph, and many more, God made promises about their future. After reading their stories, we conclude that God lead circumstances and people to bring about his will for their lives. 

Without the shadow of a doubt, God worked behind the scenes to fulfill his proposes for their lives. We witness his faithfulness as his promises materialized.

At this point I want to point to my next blog post, where I’ll be talking more about God’s plan for your individual life.

For this blog post, I keep focusing on interpreting Jeremiah 29:11 accurately. In summary, this verse doesn’t indicate that God as a personal plan for your individual life. It mainly states that God assures his people that he thinks good thoughts about them and that he has good intentions towards their lives. Here’s a thorough translation that respects the meaning of that verse in the historical and biblical context of Jeremiah 29:  

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (NKJV)

In my next blog post, I’m going to talk about „God’s will for your life“. If you want to get notified as soon as I upload the article, subscribe to my newsletter HERE. By signing up, you’ll also receive a free Bible study guide straight to your inbox. 

Read more:

What is inductive Bible study? 

Why miracles are not enough for people to believe in God

How God changed me

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