Some common misconceptions

So far, we saw that God gave blessings of success and prosperity to leaders that He chose by name, often on the condition of their obedience to Him.

But the Bible is replete with the promises of prosperity and success for all God’s people, and you probably know some of these promises by heart. After all, some are so well-known that they are printed on cards, t-shirts, posters and maybe even a banner at your church or company. Foremost among these may be the promise as recorded by the prophet Jeremiah:

“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.” — Jeremiah 29:11

You know that verse, right? But as with everything in the Bible, context is important, and so check the verse immediately prior;

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.” — Jeremiah 29:10

Hmmm… is Jeremiah’s promise of prosperity and hope meant only for the Israelites in exile at the time? Or, was it for the nation of Israel over all time? And, is it also meant for us as well?

The words of Jeremiah are comforting and we want to believe that they are for us as well, so let’s see if we can support that belief by checking similar promises from elsewhere in the Bible. Like these:

Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. — Deuteronomy 5:33

My towns will again overflow with prosperity… — Zechariah 1:17

Read in context, each of these promises are specific to the nation of Israel, either for all time or for a particular situation that they found themselves in (e.g. captivity). You are encouraged to check this for yourself.

But to be sure, let’s dig into one other well-known passage together to see if we can find a different conclusion. Let’s check the famous words from the book of Malachi, where we read this:

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse… Test me in this… and see if I will not… pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. — Malachi 3:10

Again, context is important. This passage (verses 6-12) starts with God addressing the descendants of Jacob and closes by saying that if the nation returns to Him, then God will make it so that the nation of Israel will be called a blessed by all.

In all of these verses, there is no indication that the promises of prosperity and success given apply to any other nation, we as Christians, or anyone other than the nation of Israel at that time. That may not sit well with you, but it’s what the Bible says.

But... that doesn’t mean God won’t promise prosperity or success to you in your quest in business. Or does it? In the next section, we’ll check what Jesus has to say about that.

Bible promises come in context—interpret with care!