A Biblical Rant

While there are many misused verses that could be in this rant, I’m sticking to two of them that never cease to bother me. And while I’m all about metaphorical meanings, I think these verses are fairly straightforward and constantly misused to promote a “prosperity” gospel and degrade the suffering of others.

1. A classic: Jeremiah 29:11 “’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.”

This is a favorite verse of oh so many people I know. And it’s nice; it really is a nice verse. The thought that God has a plan for us, a plan that will help us prosper and give us hope, is comforting. But I just want to do a quick contextual view of this verse. First of all, this is a letter to the exiles. These people had been taken from their homeland by Nebuchadnezzar and forced to move into Babylon. A massive forced relocation (a look into history will show you how much people love forced relocation). Then the Lord tells them to essentially settle there, have children and seek peace for a city that forcefully kidnapped them. Good thing we know that verse about hope and futures is coming up because this is sounding like a bummer. Verse ten is my personal favorite, “This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.’” SEVENTY YEARS! That is a long time. That is an age of children and grandchildren and probably great grandchildren before this prosperity and hope! So is God’s promise faulty? Is it some sort of trap? Of course not! In the verses after God talks about how if they seek Him they will find Him, how He will lead them back home. This is a beautiful passage of hope and redemption for a people who have strayed so very far away. What this passage is not is a key that we will have perfect homes, perfect loves, perfect jobs, and perfect lives. This passage does not imply that God will give us money or security or easy living circumstances. Even if we take this passage out of the clear context that it is for the Israelites and try to find a personal application, it is very apparent that a hope and a future may mean living where we don’t want to live, as outsiders and outcasts for the majority of our lives. It may mean circumstances that seem to be the opposite of prosperity, that seem hopeless. This verse isn't about our individual prosperity, it’s about God’s kingdom of prosperity.

2. My personal annoyance: Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

This seems to be the poster verse of what to say to someone who is suffering. Wait, back up, the first part of this verse seems to be the poster verse to quip at someone who is suffering. The amount of times I have personally heard, “Well you know ‘all things work together for the good.’” is enough to establish a solid annoyance, but the stories of those I have met dealing with immeasurable suffering, who have had this thrown at them, makes my blood boil. Suffering is a hard one, especially when we've been raised in the church, knowing all the “right” answers to the “Why does God allow bad things to happen” question. But practically, let me tell you, it’s not helpful. A family who has lost a child does not need to hear “all things work together for the good.” A victim of abuse or rape does not need to hear “all things work together for the good”. It’s unacceptable when those of us who are supposed to be filled with the largest portion of compassion and love resort to pet answers, not to mention neglecting what surrounds this verse. In the verses directly before, Paul states that the Spirit steps forward in our weakness. The Spirit speaks forward for us when we do not even know what to pray. When faced with suffering of others, I hope remember that. When we don’t know what to say, it’s time to let the Spirit talk. The verses after are the ones thrown into many predestination debates: God foreknew and also predestined and also called and also justified and also glorified. God does a lot of things in this passage. But what is this good that all things work together for? This is not an earthly “good”. All these things that work together are not for our gain. Once again our perspective of how things work together for good is not quite aligned with God’s plan. A plan for redemption. A plan for salvation, (possibly that plan for a hope and a future?). God is not promising that your suffering will go away, or that your life will be joyful because of it. He is telling us there is something more; there is an eternal answer to our suffering.

Essentially what I’m saying is that I hope we can see beyond ourselves, beyond our hopes and our dreams and realize what this is really about. It is about the glorification of God, it is about the redemption and eternal life He has given us. It isn't about our comfort or our prosperity or even our individual futures. I vote we look deeper into our pet verses and favorite simple answers and maybe we’ll find an eternal depth that has been masked all along by our pettiness.

Feel free to fully disagree with me, or let me know what misrepresented verses frustrate you.