May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [Psalm 19:14]
I’m sharing these daily devotions in the hope they will inspire you to read God’s word. I’m praying that they will help you find your way to a closer relationship with God. [Read More ….]
According to Bible Gateway, the six verses of the 23rd Psalm are the most popular ones on their site, with verses 4 and 6 usually vying for first place. The seventh most popular verse, however, is today’s verse, Jeremiah 29:11. When people are going through hard times, this is the kind of verse that gets pulled out to reassure them that everything will turn out right.
If Jeremiah had copywritten his words, he’d probably be a millionaire today because his words are found nearly everywhere. A quick search finds them printed on memes, blankets, pillows, plaques, wall art, bookmarks, bracelets, charms, key chains, decals, rocks, and iPhone wallpaper! By itself, the verse is comforting and reassuring, especially when we’re in the midst of trials and difficulties.
Nevertheless, Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most misused and misunderstood verses in Scripture. The word often translated as prosperity, prosper, or success was shalom, the Hebrew word for completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace—not material wealth. God’s promise wasn’t that of success and prosperity; it was of peace and wellbeing and they’re not the same thing!
Jeremiah 29:11 is one sentence in a letter Jeremiah sent to a specific group of people: the exiles in Babylon—a people in exile because God sent them there! This verse promised the nation a future and the hope that Jerusalem would be restored. In the previous verse [29:10] we see that God’s promise even came with a timeline: “When seventy years are completed…I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” Although God’s specific promise to those exiles was fulfilled nearly 2,700 years ago with their return to Jerusalem, it also may refer to the future regathering of Israel in the end times.
God made another promise in Jeremiah 29, but it’s not on anyone’s list of favorites nor are we likely to find it written on wall plaques or jewelry. For those who did not go into exile, God promised “I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth….” [29:17-18] Fortunately, that promise does not apply to us any more than does Jeremiah 29:11!
While it’s a beautiful verse, Jeremiah 29:11 should not be construed to mean that God has promised us a future of well-being without misfortune. Although He offers us His shalom, He gives us no guarantees of prosperity, security, success, opportunities, health, or that our worldly expectations will be met. Jesus didn’t come to save us from bankruptcy, loss, infertility, illness, bad marriages, poor choices, difficult in-laws, unemployment, demanding bosses, or a host of other life challenges; He came to save us from our sins! Moreover, He calls us to sacrifice and deny rather than want and get.
True Biblical prosperity comes when we are in a relationship with God, when we are walking with Him and getting to know Him better. While we mortals hope and long for what we consider “good” things, God has a hope and a future for us filled with great things. Our finite minds cannot fathom the wondrous things God has in store for us in heaven. If we’re going to “hang our hat” on any of Jeremiah’s words, Lamentations 3 might be a better one.
Although it’s been many years, whenever I read today’s verse about God going both before and after me, I’m reminded of a hiking trip my daughter and I took through the Canadian Rockies. One of our guides led and tied orange ribbons along the trail to mark the way. A second guide (the sweep) followed the last hiker and removed the trail markers. With guides both before us and following us, the group could spread out, find their own pace, and take breaks when needed, while ensuring no one got lost or left behind.
As our group started up the trail to a mountainside teahouse, my daughter and I grew impatient with the lead guide’s moderate pace. Confident we couldn’t miss the trail, we shot ahead of her. Apparently, in our haste, we veered left when we should have stayed right. Although the trail should have been uphill, it gradually went downward but, unwilling to admit we may have erred, we continued until we caught sight of the same lake from which we’d begun! Finally conceding our error, we turned around and hiked back up the trail. By the time we reached the main trail, the orange trail markers had been removed by the sweep. Nevertheless, knowing we needed to go further uphill, we continued our trek and eventually rejoined our group at the teahouse. In our case, the first really were the last and we barely had enough time to eat lunch before continuing the day’s hike.
It’s not wise to charge ahead of mountain guides or God. When we fail to let God set the pace, life can go downhill quickly, often with tragic consequences. Impatient for a child, Sarah rushed ahead of God by giving Hagar to Abraham; the Middle East hasn’t known peace since! Growing impatient with Jehovah when Moses was on Mt. Sinai, the Israelites made a new god out of their jewelry and, later, thinking they knew a better route, they grew impatient when Moses led them around the land of Edom. Neither episode ended well for them and people died because of their foolishness! Saul charged ahead by making a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel and lost his kingdom. In Jesus’ parable, the prodigal son raced ahead by demanding his inheritance before his father’s death. It was only because the lesson was about God’s grace and mercy that his story ended well.
“You go before me and follow me,” David said about God in Psalm 139. Had my daughter and I allowed the lead to set the pace, the same could have been said about our hiking guides. But our impatience and overconfidence caused us to go the wrong way. The same thing happens when we overestimate our ability to do life “our way” and underestimate what God is doing with His deliberate pace, unplanned detours, difficulties, and delays. Just because we don’t see progress doesn’t mean God isn’t doing something; it simply means we can’t see what it is He’s doing! As John Piper wisely pointed out: “God is always doing ten thousand things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” We need to trust God’s guidance and let Him determine our route and pace!
We are blessed to have a God who is both before and behind us. In front of us, He is leading, marking the way, lighting the path ahead, warning us of hazards, and smoothing the trail. Behind us, He is lifting us when we stumble, strengthening us when we weaken, encouraging us when we falter, correcting us when we err, and protecting us when danger lurks. But, like our human hiking guides, God will allow us to barge ahead and make mistakes along the trail. Fortunately, along with allowing us the freedom to turn the wrong way, God lets us make U-turns and return to Him! When my daughter and I left our guides on the trail, they soon lost sight of us. God, however, never loses sight of His children nor will He remove the signs showing us the way to go. He always is there, leading and sweeping, like the extraordinary guide that God is.
The beautiful thing about this adventure called faith is that we can count on Him never to lead us astray. [Chuck Swindoll]
Last Monday, I referenced an article in Christianity Today by theology teacher Jared Dodson whose students wanted to know “when bad people will get what they deserve.” Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that bad people will get what they deserve while on this side of the grass. Nevertheless, if they don’t repent and follow Jesus, those people eventually will get their comeuppance. Scripture makes it clear that those who don’t know God and follow the gospel of Jesus “will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.” [2 Thes 1:8-9]
What, however, of those who were evil most of their lives but repent and proclaim Jesus shortly before death? What does Scripture say about that? Jesus told us that “Anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life.… I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” [John 3:36,5:24] However, He never said they had to come to believe by a certain point in their lives. Two thieves hung on crosses beside Jesus that dark Friday and both were sinners. One thief died in sin but, because the other thief reached out to Jesus and claimed the mercy of Christ with his last few breaths, he died to sin! Both men were equally guilty, but one thief’s sins were erased. Once he professed his belief in Jesus, that thief didn’t have time to do anything good for anyone! Nevertheless, he ended up with the Lord in paradise while the other thief ended up in hell.
On the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter announced that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” [Acts 2:21] He never said anything about undergoing divine punishment for one’s sins before receiving eternal life! When their jailer asked Paul and Silas what he had to do to be saved, their answer simply was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” [Acts 16:31] Paul never said the jailer had to somehow work off his previous sins before that salvation went into effect!
If people like Hitler, Pol Pot, John Wayne Gacy, Stalin, Jeffrey Dahmer, Pablo Escobar, or Jeffrey Epstein truly repented of their sins and became true believers in the saving grace of Jesus before their deaths, rather than suffer in hell for eternity, it appears that their horrific sins would have been forgiven. Even if those evil men didn’t repent and accept Jesus until the very end of their lives, they would have escaped eternal punishment for their sins in the same way every other believer escapes it. To our mortal minds, that doesn’t seem fair but let’s not begrudge God His mercy and forgiveness. We all are sinners and every one of us deserves hellfire and brimstone but, because we’re followers of Jesus, that won’t happen. Because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, we get God’s mercy instead of His punishment.
We are saved by grace through faith and not works. Nevertheless, even though believers escape eternal condemnation, we all will give the Lord an account of ourselves as His workers. As for those who think they can sin all they want and then, at the last minute, profess belief to escape condemnation, Jesus will not be fooled by empty words; He knows what’s in our hearts! Puritan theologian Thomas Watson warned, “Take heed of abusing this mercy of God….To sin because mercy abounds is the devil’s logic; he that sins because of God’s mercy, shall have judgment without mercy.” A final caution—one should never wait until the eleventh hour to repent; death may arrive at 10:30!
God in his infinite mercy has devised a way by which justice can be satisfied, and yet mercy can be triumphant. Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, took upon himself the form of man, and offered unto Divine Justice that which was accepted as an equivalent for the punishment due to all his people. [Charles Spurgeon]
In a recent Christianity Today article, Jared Dodson, teacher of biblical studies and theology at Bushnell University, wrote about his Gen Z students. They don’t ask the age-old question of why God allows bad things to happen to good people because they expect sin and evil in our fallen world. Having seen enough abuse of power, conflict, violence, rioting, exploitation, and mayhem in their young lives, they assume the good will suffer undeservedly. What they don’t understand is why the bad don’t seem to suffer along with them!
Both their question and their desire for evil people to get their comeuppance isn’t new—we find it in Psalms. In the imprecatory psalms, the psalmists’ call down gruesome curses like, “Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and make their bodies shake continually,” [69:23] “Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!” [137:9] and “May they be like snails that dissolve into slime, like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.” [58:8] The human part of us wants those who inflict suffering to be punished and suffer for it! That bad people seem to escape judgment and the bad things of life seems contradictory to the way life should go.
As believers, we may think of ourselves as the righteous ones, but, as sinners, we’re as undeserving as the “bad” unrighteous ones. Paul told the Romans, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” [3:23] Nevertheless, when we receive undeserved blessings, we don’t complain about the unfairness of it! Apparently, it’s only unfair when other sinners are undeservedly blessed!
Even so, it does seem like the ones who wreak havoc and inflict pain on the innocent remain unharmed, unpunished, and successful! Although we want judgment and justice here and now, ours is not a world of retribution. Rather than blinding the bad guys or smashing their babies against rocks, we must leave vengeance to the Lord. He is not oblivious to what’s happening and we can take comfort in knowing that there will be a reckoning, if not in this world, then in the hereafter. Everyone who lived will face God one day; evil will be dealt with, justice will be done, and the world will be restored to proper order.
We have a good God who loves indiscriminately. Offering salvation to all of mankind, He gives good things (and not so good ones) to both the righteous and unrighteous. Jesus told us, “For he [God] gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” [Mat 5:45] As to knowing why bad things don’t happen to bad people, there is no satisfactory answer. Knowing why God does what He does is way above our pay grade—all we can do is trust His plan.
God’s unconditional love is a very difficult concept for people to accept because, in the world, there’s always payment for everything we receive. It’s just how things work here. But God is not like people! [Joyce Meyer]
God would never permit evil, if He could not bring good out of evil. [Augustine]
When Nintendo introduced the Wii gaming console in November of 2006, their initial allotment of only one million consoles for North America meant that customers lined up in droves desperate to buy one. With demand outstripping inventory, my husband and I got up before dawn one cold November morning in 2006 and stood in line with hundreds of others so we could fulfill Christmas wishes for our family.
Coined by Dr. Robert Cialdini, the term “scarcity principle of persuasion” means that the rarer or more difficult it is to obtain something, the more valuable it becomes. “Whatever is rare, uncommon or dwindling in availability…confers value on objects, or even relationships,” said the professor of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University. Apparently, the impression of scarcity causes our FOMO (fear of missing out) to make us more likely to buy or seek something than if it were readily available.
Marketing directors want to create the feeling that “you’ve got to get here first and if you don’t, you lose.” Limited inventory releases, offers of a bonus with purchase, time-bound promotional deals like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, and exclusive seasonal offers create a sense of urgency that tells our brains to get it now before we miss out. The scarcity principle is what turns parents into frenzied shoppers trying to find items like Wiis, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Tickle Me Elmo dolls while others anxiously seek anything from McRib sandwiches, limited edition Oreos, Pokémon cards, and Labubus to Trader Joe’s mini tote bags, pumpkin spice lattes, the latest drop from Supreme or Nike, or the newest smartphones and watches.
Although He was God, Jesus wasn’t a marketing professional. He didn’t offer BOGOs, limit the number of souls that could be saved, or offer salvation only twice a year. Rather than say only a limited number of tickets to heaven would be available, Jesus offered salvation to everyone—rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, woman or man!
Unlike someone wearing the latest limited drop from Burberry or Alexander Wang, following Jesus is neither a fashion statement nor status symbol. Instead, Jesus spoke of humility and warned people about the persecution and suffering they would endure as His followers! Instead of snagging the latest iPhone or sneakers, they were to deny themselves and take up the cross if they were going to follow Jesus. The Lord would have been a marketing director’s nightmare, but He wasn’t marketing something! He was giving something away—Jesus came to give eternal life to all who believed in Him.
According to Dr. Cialdini, along with convincing someone what they stand to gain by choosing a product, they need to know what they might lose by not choosing it. Even though He didn’t attend Cialdini’s classes, Jesus did do that. Instead offering a bonus “gift with purchase,” He told people what they stood to gain by following Him—an abundant life, forgiveness of sins, the riches of His grace, peace, joy, love, and the Holy Spirit, along with eternal life. He also told those who denied Him that they faced divine judgment, condemnation, eternal death, and everlasting separation from God. As Paul explained to the Romans: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [6:23]
We’ve all seen those countdown timers in ads telling us how many days, hours, and minutes remain until the latest product drops, the concert tickets go on sale, or the special offer ends. Not wanting to lose any of His children, however, God is patient. Even so, Jesus’ offer does have an expiration date. Eventually, that day will come but there’s no countdown clock to tell us exactly when that is. Nevertheless, as long as we have breath, it’s never too late to turn to Christ. While the Wiis and Cabbage Patch dolls are long gone, the Nike shoes worn out, and none of the bonus Clinique products remain, salvation is eternal and, unlike Burberry’s limited-edition grey plaid blazer, it never goes out of style!
You cannot repent too soon, because you do not know how soon it may be too late. [Thomas Fuller]
The orange butterfly lay perfectly still in the middle of the trail. When we knelt down by it, the Viceroy fluttered its wings but only managed to skim a few inches across the gravel. As intact as it looked, one wing was entirely useless. A closer look led me to believe it had been hit by a speeding cyclist. To protect the creature from any more bikes or feet, we managed to get it off the trail into the grass. Unfortunately, without some sort of butterfly super-glue to reattach the loose wing, while we could help for the time being, we couldn’t save it.
Although it was easy to see that saving the butterfly was not within our purview, I’m not sure we understand that about our friends and loved ones. As much as we might want to, we can’t save the people around us. We can’t keep Terry from gambling, stop Mary from dating abusive men, make John quit drinking, or salvage Joan’s failing marriage. No matter how much we love them, we can’t fix other people and their problems. Seeing their potential and possibility, we want their lives to be better; however, they are not our repair projects and their transformation is not our job. We can’t fix our loved ones, change their lives, or save them from their own bad decisions. What we want for others is meaningless unless they want it for themselves. We can love them, counsel, and encourage them. We can share God’s word with them and pray for them. We even can help bear their burdens while refusing to enable their destructive choices. What we can’t do, however, is save them from themselves.
Just as we can’t save addicts from their addiction, fools from their reckless decisions, or the shiftless from their indolence, we can’t save non-believers from their non-belief. We can share the gospel message and impart knowledge, but we can’t make people think; we can show people the truth, but we can’t make them believe. Just as we can lead a horse to a water tank, we can lead people to Jesus, but we can’t make the unbeliever drink of Jesus’ living water any more than we can make the horse drink from that tank! It’s their choice alone.
We can give our testimony, but it is God who opens their hearts. We can sow the seed (and even water and fertilize it) but it is up to the soil and God as to whether or not it will sprout. Let us remember that Jesus will save anyone but not everyone will choose to be saved. Unfortunately, many will reject His offer of salvation. We can witness and pray for their salvation but we can’t save them. We aren’t their savior—Jesus Christ is! In actuality, He’s already done the saving; it’s just up to people to receive His gift of grace.
You will find all true theology summed up in these two short sentences: Salvation is all of the grace of God. Damnation is all of the will of man. [Charles Spurgeon]
Devotions of the Heart 