"For I know the plans I have for you..."
Captain Sensible writes: One of the best loved verses in the Bible has to be Jeremiah 29:11:
'"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."'
But does anyone notice what God says just five verses before this?
Here's Jeremiah 29:6:
'"Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease."'
Isn't it odd how verse 6 never seems to get mentioned?
At least, I have never heard anyone quote it.
But perhaps we should start?
After all, do we have any right to expectantly await God's plans for us to come to fruition, if we blatantly disregard his unambiguous instruction just prior to that?
Also interesting to note is the emphasis on active rather than passive behaviour here. No: "Marry and have sons and daughters, but only when I send a thunderbolt into your living room to indicate that your 'season' of singleness has ended"? Or: "Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage -- except of course if they have the 'gift of singleness' (which no one will know for sure until they die, according to one theologian), so actually it is sinful to try to bring about such a thing without witnessing a remarkable act of divine intervention on My part first."
Rather, isn't it instead an echo of the go forth and multiply command?
God seems to me to be saying here: "Go, go, go! You know what you need to do. Now get on with it!"
Quite a contrast to all this "waiting" and "trusting" that we seem to be instructed to do by our Christian singleness -- ahem -- experts these days, don't you think?
'"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."'
But does anyone notice what God says just five verses before this?
Here's Jeremiah 29:6:
'"Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease."'
Isn't it odd how verse 6 never seems to get mentioned?
At least, I have never heard anyone quote it.
But perhaps we should start?
After all, do we have any right to expectantly await God's plans for us to come to fruition, if we blatantly disregard his unambiguous instruction just prior to that?
Also interesting to note is the emphasis on active rather than passive behaviour here. No: "Marry and have sons and daughters, but only when I send a thunderbolt into your living room to indicate that your 'season' of singleness has ended"? Or: "Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage -- except of course if they have the 'gift of singleness' (which no one will know for sure until they die, according to one theologian), so actually it is sinful to try to bring about such a thing without witnessing a remarkable act of divine intervention on My part first."
Rather, isn't it instead an echo of the go forth and multiply command?
God seems to me to be saying here: "Go, go, go! You know what you need to do. Now get on with it!"
Quite a contrast to all this "waiting" and "trusting" that we seem to be instructed to do by our Christian singleness -- ahem -- experts these days, don't you think?
posted by Captain Sensible at 5:09 PM
2 Comments:
I wonder how many people on the Christian Dating websites will now put Jeremiah 29 v 6 alongside their favourite verse Jeremiah 29 v 11. Thanks for pointing this out Captain.
Paul
Here's a good quote to use as well: Martin Luther, 1525 in a letter to Wolfgang Reissenbusch:
"Your body urges you to marry and needs it; God wills and forces it. What will you do about it? It would also be a fine, noble example if you married, that would help many feeble ones, broaden their paths and give them more scope, so many others might escape the dangers of the flesh and follow you."
Food for thought indeed.
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