4 Familiar Scriptures and Truths We Often Miss

Familiar scriptures make the most quoted and popular list in many Christian circles.

But sometimes we miss important truths or gloss over the context of the passage. Or, we memorize a verse without considering the Bible verses before and after.

So let’s look at 4 Bible verses and discuss their neighboring scriptures.

Familiar Scriptures Often Quoted

(1.) “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.” Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)

To know God has plans for our welfare, future, and hope, taps into our longing to be affirmed and loved and cared for.

But Jeremiah pens a letter to God’s people in exile.

“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill my promise and bring you back to this place.” Jeremiah 29:10 (ESV)

The Lord planned to restore the exiles and bring them back to Jerusalem. And God has restoration plans for us. Because the Lord always keeps His promises.

I love how 1 Peter 5:10 expresses restoration after suffering, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (ESV)

Now, look at the verses that follow Jeremiah 29:11. “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 (ESV)

So when we call upon the Lord and seek Him with all our heart, we find welfare and hope for wholeness. (2002 edition of my ESV Bible uses “wholeness” in place of “welfare.”)

When we call upon the Lord and seek Him with all our heart, we find welfare and hope for wholeness. (Jeremiah 29:10-13) Share on X

Truths We Miss

(2.) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 (ESV)

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