“‘For surely I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse for Instagram bios and cross-stitched pillows and TikTok clips. The first time most of us encounter this verse, it’s usually packaged like, “God loves you, God’s watching out for you, God’s got big things in mind for you” or “if you pray and you come to church and God’s going to be on your side and you’re going to make that team or get that grade or have a job and a house and a family” or somewhere in between.

That’s a sweet thing for people to teach us, it’s a nice sentiment, and most of the time it’s coming from a place of good intentions, and they aren’t “wrong” … but what happens when things aren’t working out, and things are really hard, and it doesn’t feel like God is doing what God said God was going to do, this isn’t what God had promised you? It starts to not quite feel as “true” as it once did.

Here’s the thing: that’s not really what it says.

Jeremiah is an Old Testament prophet who is writing during the time of the kingdom of Judah’s exile to Babylon. He is writing to these people who have been taken, who have been removed from the only life they’ve ever known, and are now in this foreign land, trying to navigate the new circumstances they find themselves in.

And they are LOST. Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. They don’t know what’s going on at home, they don’t know if their people are ok, or what’s happening in their old lives. They don’t know if things will ever go back to normal, or if they will ever see their homeland again. They don’t know what to do, they don’t know what comes next, they don’t know how to find God in any of it. They feel abandoned, forgotten by their God: lonely, broken, hopeless.

If you open up just about any bible in the Justin (or the ones that the graduating seniors will receive this Sunday), the translation we use is going to read a little different:

“‘I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘Plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 CEB)

God isn’t promising that everything was going to get better overnight. God isn’t promising that this season is going to be easy. God isn’t promising that things are going to go back to the way they were before, back to normal. God isn’t promising that on the other side of this struggle there’s going to be a lot to gain, that if they work hard enough or pray to God enough that they’ll climb back up the ladder in this new place.

God’s promise isn’t for wealth or prestige or popularity or the job and house and life you’ve always wanted – it’s for peace. For the well-being of your soul. For a future, not one without any struggle or difficulty, but one with resilience when things are hard, with light in the midst of darkness, with hope when things feel so uncertain and unclear.

God doesn’t tell the people to just sit around and hope for a return to what was. Earlier in chapter 29, Jermiah says:

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Get married and have children; then help your sons find wives and your daughters find husbands in order that they too may have children. … Seek the good of the city where [you have found yourselves], and pray to the LORD on it’s behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7 CEB/NRSVue)

God doesn’t tell them to forget everything they have left behind – but God also doesn’t tell them to just wait until they can go back to where they were comfortable. God tells them to build lives there – to build new relationships, to find new neighborhoods, to plant gardens, to create a new life.

This year’s graduating class is facing change, whether they’re ready for it or not. They are about to step out from everything they’ve ever known into a new chapter, an unknown adventure that lies in front of them. They have spent their whole lives surrounded by their friends, their family, their people, this community, and leaving is not going to be easy. They won’t have all the answers, they won’t know which is the “right” path to take, they will miss this chapter – and we will miss them.

Once things begin to change, there’s no going back. But that’s ok – new things, good things are coming in this new adventure. Our seniors will create new lives and live into a new future. They will bring new ideas to life, and they will change the world for the better. They will take all they have learned from this chapter and write a new one.

Seniors, we are so proud of you, the people that you are and the people you are becoming. We cannot wait to see where this new chapter takes you. We love you all.

Much love,

Matt Britt
Director of Youth Ministries