T HIS JEREMIAH VERSE is wonderful. “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 on plaques and coffee mugs and Facebook memes. It is a verse filled with enormous hope and promise — “I have great plans for you!” — but it’s also a verse filled with enormous anxiety. “How will I know God’s plan? What if I can’t figure out God’s plan for me?”

We pray. God, what do you want me to do with my life? Should I take this job? Should I move to that city? Should I enroll at the school? Should I marry him? Should I break up with her? We pray for direction or insight and there’s nothing but silence. Day after day, the conversations continue in the same fashion. We ask God for an answer on a decision, and in return, we hear nothing.

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AS WE LOOK CLOSELY at this verse, Jeremiah 29:11, we must first read it in its context. The prophet Jeremiah relates the words of God to the captive Israelites in Babylon. The Israelites have been conquered by the Babylonian enemy. Their country destroyed. Many have been hauled away to a new and strange place, much like an ancient “Trail of Tears.” This is a word of God to these poor, desperate people in exile.

What happens is that God promises the Israelites they will be captive for 70 years. So settle down. Get jobs. Raise a family. “Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to.” This must have been a hard pill to swallow for the Israelites, so it is unsurprising that God then tells them that “I know the plans I have for you … plans for your welfare, not for disaster.”

Also, these verses are not addressed to individuals, but to a people, the captive Israelites. I know the plans I have for you (plural — y’all, all y’all). But its message is echoed elsewhere in the Bible in situations which do not limit its applicability to groups.

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THE CONTEXT OF JEREMIAH 29:11 is to God’s people. It is a revelation of how to live in Him, for Him and for His glory.

We tend to read the Bible with ourselves front and center, looking for something that applies to us, now, in our current need. That is not a bad thing, in and of itself, but we must remember that it is not why the Bible was written. God gave us His Word to point us to Him.

When you think about God’s good plans for you, you might envision getting married and raising a family as soon as possible, becoming a mid-level manager by 30, and retiring comfortably at 60. Having a healthy and wealthy retirement. Traveling the world. In other words, that way of viewing God’s plan looks oddly like the American Dream. Too often we expect God to reveal minute-by-minute instructions for our lives. We expect him to spell out everything.

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THAT’S THE WAY IT WAS for Daniel Ryan Day. In his book Intentional Christian: What to do when you don’t know what to do (excerpted in Daily Bread), he writes of his own experience trying to discern God’s plan, God’s will for his life. As a teen, he prayed for God to reveal to him that “one specific assignment” God had for his life. What he got was silence.

So he turned to the Bible. And this is what he found: 1 Thessalonians 4:3. “It is God’s will that you should be … (are you ready for this knock-you-off-your-feet, life-changing, specific plan from God?) … sanctified.”

Sanctified. That’s it. “To be focused on God’s point of view. Sanctified is to secure and to keep all the strength of your body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone.” Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled him will control us. (Oswald Chambers)

We are called to walk faithfully with God. That’s it. Wherever you go, whatever you do, walk faithfully with God. I think for many of us, we wish his plan was something more easy and simple like be a brain surgeon or an astronaut.

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GOD KNOWS THE PLANS He has for you — and for me. God’s plan for you is to live faithfully in him whatever your situation. Wherever you are. Captive in Babylon. Student in school. Volunteer at the hospital. Regular on the golf course.

Old Testament prophet Micah put it this way: What is God’s plan for you, God’s requirement? “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Here are some examples of what that looks like in our lives.

✔ Imitate Christ. (Ephesians 5:1)
✔ Think about what is pure, holy, and right. (Philippians 4:8)
✔ Give thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
✔ Let the word of Christ dwell in [you]. (Colossians 3:17)
✔ Be kind to the poor. (Proverbs 19:17)
✔ Focus [your] heart on heavenly things. (Colossians 3:2)
✔ Be kind and compassionate. (Ephesians 4:32)
✔ Be devoted in prayer. (Colossians 4:2)
✔ Live above reproach. (1 Timothy 3:2)

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THIS REALIZATION is tremendously freeing. Instead of being stuck in paralysis of deliberation, we can take the next step forward. We begin to recognize that what is on this earth is fleeting. We don’t have to fret in indecision, futilely trying to interpret God’s will as if it were a complex puzzle. When we have the choice between good options concerning careers, jobs, places to live, and the like, we can decide confidently, knowing that God wants our holiness regardless of what we do and where we are.

God’s plan is not that you to become a plumber, a missionary, a singer or even an astrophysicist. Those are just the details.

God’s plan to prosper you is this:

Be faithful to Him in everything you do. Follow Him in all you do. When you do that, the rest will take care of itself.

— Keith Cardwell