Joy In Every Step

Welcome to a place of peace, hope, and divine encouragement. This is Joy In Every Step with your host, beloved preacher, retired teacher, and faithful faithful servant of the Lord, Sarita Bernadette. Each week, Sarita shares heartfelt messages rooted in the Word of God, filled with wisdom, joy, and the gentle reminder that God cares deeply for you. Whether you're walking through the valleys or dancing on the mountaintops, Sarita's voice will guide you back to his promises step by step. So open your heart, settle your spirit, and take the next step in faith with Joy In Every Step.

Hi, I'm Sarita Bernadette, and welcome back to another episode of Joy In Every Step. I'm so glad you're here. There's a very popular scripture that is often quoted as confirmation that God is promising believers a smooth and successful life. Now God does indeed have our very best interest at heart and there's no doubt that He loves His children. However, there's much more to see and understand about this particular scripture.

When we take a deeper look, it becomes even more powerful. That scripture, beloved, is Jeremiah twenty nine and eleven. From the New King James. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. The updated edition of the new revised standard version reads, For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.

Plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. This verse sounds like the perfect promise. It represents what we all want to hear, right? We want to hear that God has had us on his mind from the very beginning, and therefore, we can look forward to a future full of promise and expectation. It's uplifting and comforting for sure.

But when we dig into this passage of scripture, we find that it came during a bleak and even cruel time. Modern interpretations of this particular verse sometimes differ from the original text's meaning, so scholars emphasize reading and studying the whole chapter to understand the context and the specifics of this promise. The twenty ninth chapter of Jeremiah is a letter the prophet himself wrote to the Israelites as they were in exile in Babylon. Scholars believe it was written shortly after five ninety seven BC and was sent from the prophet Jeremiah in Jerusalem to the first major wave of Judean captives deported to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. In May, Babylon invaded Judah and deported the king, the priests, the prophets, craftsmen, and the leaders.

Jeremiah stayed behind in Jerusalem. The Israelites were there as punishment for their sins. You see, the people through successive Judean kings refused to pay the taxes they owed and instead bucked the system by forming ally alliances with Egypt to fight Babylonian rule. They've refused to follow the rules in that land. And the exile was seen as a divine punishment because the people repeatedly broke their covenant with the Lord.

God gave the Israelites explicit instructions to avoid taking on the idolatrous practices of Egypt and other neighboring nations. And in this case, he told them to separate themselves from the religious and moral customs they had witnessed while they were enslaved. So when Jeremiah penned this letter, they were living in captivity away from their homeland and deprived of their religious and cultural identity. That had to be difficult. When the people first heard these words, they were enduring a time of desperation and utter despair.

In the midst of death and war, God sends them a message that speaks of life and peace. Isn't that just like the Lord? When we cry out in the midst of our most trying times, God gives us peace and reassurance. Reassurance that the Father indeed knows best. The New King James version of that same verse, Jeremiah twenty nine and eleven uses the phrases, thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil.

Beloved, God is thinking of his children no matter what we may be facing. Another translation of the verse uses the word plans, and it goes on to say that those plans are for your welfare and not for harm. Welfare in this case means health and well-being. His thoughts and plans for us are that we should prosper in all things, but our spiritual maturity is the foundation for any physical and material success. I'll say that apart that part again.

Our spiritual maturity is the foundation for any physical and material success. More on the content of this scripture. It's full of hope indeed, but when you read it in context, you'll note that God didn't promise the Israelites that they would be rescued immediately. If we go back several chapters to Jeremiah twenty five and eleven and twelve, Jeremiah chapter 25 verses eleven and twelve, he reveals through the prophet that the land would become a wasteland and the nations would serve the king of Babylon for exactly seventy years. The Israelites were in exile in Babylon and they were yearning return to their homeland.

Some among them, false prophets, began promising a swift liberation in return. And so in this letter, Jeremiah advises the people to settle in and build their homes, plant gardens, marry and have children so they could multiply during the seventy years. Are you hearing me? Imagine that. Instead of spending time looking for a quick solution or a quick way out, instead of spending their time in anger and rebellion, Jeremiah tells them in verse twenty nine and seven, And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace.

The Hebrew word used is shalom, which implies complete well-being, wholeness and flourishing for the entire community. The message version says, make yourselves at home there and work for the country's welfare. Pray for Babylon's well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you. Who beloved for us, looks like making a home wherever we are and praying for everyone around us.

We can live a life that glorifies God right where we are. In this chapter of Jeremiah, we see that God's plan was not to destroy his people, but to purify and restore them. The letter was meant to assure that the exiled Israelites, that that even though they they were in a foreign land and facing tough times ahead, God wanted them to know that he was right there with them. And his plan was to preserve them via the exile to ensure their survival as his people and ultimately bring them back to their home in Jerusalem. In Jeremiah twenty nine and ten, God reassured the Israelites that after the seventy years were complete, he would fulfill his promise to bring them back home.

What the Israelites were experiencing was indeed punishment, but God was also doing something else. Second Chronicles thirty six and twenty one reveals or explains that the seventy years of captivity allowed the land to experience the Sabbath rests it was deprived of when the Israelites failed to follow God's law regarding fallow farming years. Fallow farming years. Fallow farming refers to the agricultural practice of letting the land rest uncultivated, allowing the soil to naturally restore fertility. It also provided a way for the poor and wild animals to eat whatever came up on its own.

Restoration, beloved, Restoration. God made sure that when the Israelites returned to their home, they would be able to live in prosperity and in fellowship with Him. So this passage is not one that should be reserved only for bright and happy moments in our lives. We should bring this one up when times are dark. Remember Paul's words in Philippians four and eight, Finally believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God's word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things, center your mind on them and implant them in your heart.

That is the amplified version of that verse. Paul tells us to think about the things that are true and right and confirmed in the word of God. Jeremiah 2nine 11 is a scripture that reminds us of God's eternal and unconditional love for his children. That's worthy of our attention. Paul says to continually think on the things that are worthy of praise.

That amplified translation goes deep. It says, center your mind on them, implant them in your heart. This verse makes God's intentions towards us clear, and it also brings peace in the midst of trouble. One last translation of Jeremiah twenty nine and eleven, and this is the message translation. It says, I know what I'm doing.

I have it all planned out. Plans to take care of you, not abandon you. Plans to give you the future you hope for. So beloved, be confident about this today. God has us on his mind.

Let's not just endure the hardships. Let's go through remembering that he is preparing the way for us to come out better than when we went in. Let's aim to truly live by faith. Let's pray and seek the Lord each and every day and put our trust in Him and Him alone. The context has made this scripture even more impactful because a bad situation might pop up, but God is reassuring that he is right there, right there.

Thank you for listening today, beloved. God is ever with us, a hope and a future. This is Joy In Every Step. I'm Sarita Bernadette and I'm grateful you chose to spend some time here with me. Feel free to share this episode with someone you know would appreciate it.

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