Tell someone you're down about the way things are going with school or work or a relationship, and I'm pretty sure a Christian will begin their advice with "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."
It's a good verse- and I believe it has truth to it. Plus it looks good embroidered on a pillow and makes the advice giver seem somewhat enlightened. But there are two things that have always bugged me about it. One, the context is that Israel is being told they will get out of captivity and get to go home. Yes, this is a prophecy, but it is given specifically to the nation of Israel. But the greater context of the Bible does back up that part about God knowing the plans He has for us, so I'm good there. Honestly, this part doesn't bother me much.
But the second one does. Jeremiah 29:11 is truth- but it is only a part of the truth of this passage. When we read 29:11, we think God's benevolence is at work- and it is. We think God is just going to give us prosperity and good times- which is NOT the case. Disagree with me? Let's see what comes next in verses 12-14:
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to 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 will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
See, the prosperity and lack of harm are, in fact, contingent on something. Several things actually. First, we must call on God, go to Him in prayer. No problem, you might say, you pray all the time, so you must be good. I pray a lot, too, but I don't always find prosperity or lack of harm in my life- how about you? Often, we pray BECAUSE of the problems in our lives. I know I often pray because I feel I need something, not because I want to chat with God. Perhaps that is why we often feel our prayers don't reach beyond the ceiling.
We are not, in fact, seeking God when we pray- we are seeking His blessing.
God essentially tells us that the good stuff is contingent upon the second thing- that we actually seek HIM, and with our whole heart. OK, easy enough to try to shift our focus from seeking God's stuff to seeking Him as a Person, but it's more than that. He asks for our whole heart to be in it.
Whole heart. Not half, not three-quarters, not 99.999999%. Whole. All of it.
I read of people griping that they can't see God, or hear/understand what He is saying in scripture, or that God just doesn't seem to be around anymore. I've heard people- believing Christians- say that. I've said that. And at the same time, I've known, deep down (for me at least, I can't speak for the others) that those moments come most often when my heart is, in fact, divided.
I read of people griping that they can't see God, or hear/understand what He is saying in scripture, or that God just doesn't seem to be around anymore. I've heard people- believing Christians- say that. I've said that. And at the same time, I've known, deep down (for me at least, I can't speak for the others) that those moments come most often when my heart is, in fact, divided.
I can't find God when I'm looking for Him and fulfillment at work and ideas for the church and how to be a better husband and father. These are good things, important things, but if they are dividing my heart, they are going to block my view of God. I get that. But at the same time, just what is a "whole heart" and how do I get it?
Is God asking us to forsake all other people and things for Him?
Umm, yeah, He is.
He's not asking you to leave your family, quit your job and join a monastery, He's asking for your undivided heart- your undivided attention. Family, career, church- all of that can and should still be in your life, but instead of it being a portion of your life (read: heart) it should be a portion of your relationship to God. That's what I think He asking when He asks for our whole heart: That everything we do, we do for Him. Everything we think, pursue, say, attempt- all done with the mind of "How does this glorify God?"
I must confess this is a struggle I find growing increasingly difficult in my own life. I am often tempted to try to sort out things without asking that question first and often. I go to God with questions and requests for the purpose of my own prosperity and freedom from harm- not to just be with God. I often put church before God. I guess that makes me a Pharisee. I do good things and wait expectantly for blessings that never come. I ask God why, and He is probably responding with- "You did that for you, not for me."
So, back to Jeremiah 29:11- God tells Israel (and us) that He has no plans to bring us harm, but plenty to bring us prosperity. (An aside- I think this means a spiritual prosperity as much or more than any material prosperity.) What verse 12 tells us is that God has told us this hope, so that we would truly seek Him- then and only then will the plans God has for us come to fruition.
They are contingent upon God's grace, but like always with God's grace, it is contingent upon our acceptance of it. And we accept it by seeking God, looking for Him with all our attention AND affection.
Perhaps that is what "whole heart" is all about. All our attention and affection, given to God.
Sounds like good things are already pouring in with that attitude.
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