You Have This Verse on Your Wall. — sacred illustration
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Praise & Thanks

You Have This Verse on Your Wall.

Jeremiah 29:11

The prophet Jeremiah wrote this in a letter from Jerusalem to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off to Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-14).

Father, I have been reading Your promise as if it said soon. You never said soon. You knew, and You said You would be there the whole way through. Teach me to build something here, in the place I did not choose, and to pray for the city that holds me. Thank You that the length of this was never a sign You forgot me. Amen.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote this in a letter from Jerusalem to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off to Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-14).

The Scripture

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.”

— Jeremiah 29:11

Prayer points from Jeremiah 29:11

  1. Thank God that He knows the plans He has for you, even in a place you did not choose.
  2. Name the wait that has gone on longer than you expected, and tell Him how long it has felt.
  3. Confess where you have read His promise as if it meant soon, and ask Him for patience.
  4. Ask Him to show you how to build, plant and settle where you are today, as the exiles were told to.
  5. Pray for the town or city you live in now, as Jeremiah told the exiles to pray for theirs.
  6. Pray by name for someone in a long season of waiting, that they would not take its length as being forgotten.

About this verse

Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, and it was first written as a letter to deportees. Jeremiah sent it from Jerusalem to the people Nebuchadnezzar had carried off to Babylon. Another prophet, Hananiah, had been announcing that the exile would be over within two years. Jeremiah's letter said the opposite: build houses and settle down, plant gardens, marry, have children, and seek the prosperity of the city where you are captive and pray for it. Then came the timeline: seventy years, longer than most of the adults who first heard it would live. Only after that does the famous promise appear: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope." The promise was real, but it was never a promise of soon. It was spoken to people told to make a life in a place they did not choose, assured that the length of the wait did not mean they had been forgotten.

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