I'm finding that verse mapping is one of my favorite ways to study the Bible these days. I’ve been studying the Verse Jeremiah 29:11. We sometimes see one verse floating around on the internet and it can often be completely taken out of context. That's what I love about verse mapping. It puts the verse in context for us so we can see the whole picture. I created some Verse Mapping Printables. Follow the link in the comments below to my website to download your free printables. You can print these off on your home printer. 

In the book of Jeremiah, the Jews were living under the domination of their enemies and were being carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. They were being forced to move out of their homeland and move to a foreign country. In the chapter before 29, Jeremiah calls out the false prophet Hananiah for speaking lies and false prophecies, that the Jews were believing, that were not from the Lord. Hananiah spoke a prophecy that was pleasant to the Jew’s ears. He spoke that they would break free from Babylon and return to their home. But instead, Jeremiah tells the Jews that they would live in Babylon in exile for seventy years. He told them to settle, build homes and marry and to pray for peace and prosperity in their enemies land. I can only imagine that the Jews would prefer to listen to the prophet who had the immediate deliverance message. Don’t we all want to be delivered out of hard circumstances sooner than later. Sometimes, real prophecy is hard for us to swallow, but we need to discern truth from lies. When we look at this verse in context we can see that it was spoken to a people who were suffering and walking through hardship. It was God’s plan that they stay there for 70 years in the land of their enemy. In Jeremiah 29:11-13, he shows his sovereignty by telling the Jews, “ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. 

Sometimes, our Father may require us to be in difficult circumstances. Sometimes, he may require us to be there for an extreme amount of time. Sometimes, we may be in a difficult circumstance because of our own sin and idolatry (I’ve been there‍♀️). But he promises he has a plan and a hope for us and it is for our good, despite our mistakes and failures. Even on the days we feel like we have been in exile for 10 years, he has a plan. What he was asking of the Jews was this.... You are here in this foreign land of your enemy and you will be here for 70 years. Continue to seek me with all of your heart, live, work, build homes and marry. Be content with where I have you, even if it is hard, even if you desire to be elsewhere. He also told them to pray for peace and prosperity for the land in which they lived (their enemies land). He called on them to trust him, Because he had a plan and it was for their good. 

So very powerful!!!