Question: Should a Christian take scripture out of context and apply it to themselves if it seems right to do so? An example is Jeremiah 29:11-13. We hear this quotes quite often by Christians who wnat this to apply to themselves but in reality the promise was something given to the Jewish captives in Babylon to give them encouragement.
Response: It's important to take scripture on its own terms. We are so quick to think of it as a personal "love letter" to us from God that we perhaps forget that it was first written to certain people in specific situations who lived long ago.
The passage in question, Jeremiah 29:11, was written by the prophet to encourage the Israelites who had been exiled to Babylon - this exile was God's response to the sins of Israel committed over hundreds of years. God wanted to encourage His people that though they were in exile, He had not forgotten them and had plans to restore them.
But the people who were given these words were not going to be the ones to benefit from them. The people were going to be restored to the land of Israel but not the ones who heard the message, but their children or grandchildren.
This promise was taking into account the large arc of history for the people of Israel, over which God was presiding; it wasn't a promise of restoration for the individuals who heard it. They were a part of that arc of history but theirs was the part where discipline was meted out and where heartbreak was endured. Their hope was the God would watch over them during the exile and that, at the right time, after they had passed off the scene, God would remember their descendants and bring them back to the land of Israel.
That was the setting for the words when they were first given. As Christians living thousands of years later, how should we understand them? What message can we take from them? We may be facing trials and perplexing circumstances where God seems absent. Yet this passage reminds us, as it did those who first heard it, that God is in control and is working out His plans for His people.
It is important that we see ourselves as members of a great community of saints that extends down through time over thousands of years rather than, in our modern western view, as disconnected individuals.
We may be suffering and God may deliver us, but we should not take this verse to mean that everything will work out in our lives. Those who heard this promise did not see its fulfillment and they died in exile. Likerwise, we too may not see all our hopes and dreams fulfilled. This does not mean the promise failed but that the promise is larger than our individual lives. Our lives do not stand and fall on their own but are embedded in a larger story that is purposefully marching to a sure conclusion whether we live to see it or not.
The exiles looked forward to the return to the land of Israel. We today can look forward to the greater restoration when Christ returns. The exiles were instructed to make the most of their time in Babylon; to raise families and build homes and pray for the prosperity of their host nation (Jeremiah 29); yet to keep their eyes on what was coming, even if they themselves did not experience it. We today may also do so - make the most of the lives that God has granted to us on earth though they may involve deep disappointment; yet keep a joyful focus on Christ's return even though we ourselves may die before that happens.
Response: It's important to take scripture on its own terms. We are so quick to think of it as a personal "love letter" to us from God that we perhaps forget that it was first written to certain people in specific situations who lived long ago.
The passage in question, Jeremiah 29:11, was written by the prophet to encourage the Israelites who had been exiled to Babylon - this exile was God's response to the sins of Israel committed over hundreds of years. God wanted to encourage His people that though they were in exile, He had not forgotten them and had plans to restore them.
But the people who were given these words were not going to be the ones to benefit from them. The people were going to be restored to the land of Israel but not the ones who heard the message, but their children or grandchildren.
This promise was taking into account the large arc of history for the people of Israel, over which God was presiding; it wasn't a promise of restoration for the individuals who heard it. They were a part of that arc of history but theirs was the part where discipline was meted out and where heartbreak was endured. Their hope was the God would watch over them during the exile and that, at the right time, after they had passed off the scene, God would remember their descendants and bring them back to the land of Israel.
That was the setting for the words when they were first given. As Christians living thousands of years later, how should we understand them? What message can we take from them? We may be facing trials and perplexing circumstances where God seems absent. Yet this passage reminds us, as it did those who first heard it, that God is in control and is working out His plans for His people.
It is important that we see ourselves as members of a great community of saints that extends down through time over thousands of years rather than, in our modern western view, as disconnected individuals.
We may be suffering and God may deliver us, but we should not take this verse to mean that everything will work out in our lives. Those who heard this promise did not see its fulfillment and they died in exile. Likerwise, we too may not see all our hopes and dreams fulfilled. This does not mean the promise failed but that the promise is larger than our individual lives. Our lives do not stand and fall on their own but are embedded in a larger story that is purposefully marching to a sure conclusion whether we live to see it or not.
The exiles looked forward to the return to the land of Israel. We today can look forward to the greater restoration when Christ returns. The exiles were instructed to make the most of their time in Babylon; to raise families and build homes and pray for the prosperity of their host nation (Jeremiah 29); yet to keep their eyes on what was coming, even if they themselves did not experience it. We today may also do so - make the most of the lives that God has granted to us on earth though they may involve deep disappointment; yet keep a joyful focus on Christ's return even though we ourselves may die before that happens.
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