Jeremiah 29:11 (English Standard Version)

¹¹ 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.

This is one of the most well known verses in the bible. Most people use this verse to say, "See God will bless my life. He wants good things for me." This is true, but not a lot of people can tell you what's around the verse.

Jeremiah 29 (English Standard Version)

Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles

¹These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. ³The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: ⁴"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ⁸For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, ⁹for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.

¹⁰"For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. ¹¹ 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. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and 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.

So I would concur. This verse is talking about how God does want to give us good things. He first's instructs them how to live while they are in exile. He says to multiply and prosper. He tells them don't trust other prophets because they are not from Him. Lastly He tells them that He will fulfill His promise and bring them back to Israel. However this is where I think He starts talking about the true plans full of hope. He says,"you will call upon me and come and pray to me...you will seek me...you seek me with all your heart." I think this is the plan that will truly prosper us. I think God is plan that will give us hope. God gives a relationship with Himself to us as the plan that will bring us good things.

The Israelites probably thought the plan that was going to bless them so much was being returned to the land of Israel, yet this is a temporary thing. The good things that I expect God to bless me with are sometimes temporary as well. But what if I realize as I live out my day that my relationship with God is what will bring me hope and a future.