(2nd in a series of seven blogs on Jeremiah 29:10-14)
I’m sure you’ve heard it said that God has a wonderful plan for your lives. While that is true, sometimes it can be hard to believe when a handicapped child is born, a loved one dies, unemployment looms, a marriage struggles or a mate gets cancer. What we need to do then is to lean on God’s promises given in His Word.
The people in Jeremiah’s day had just gone into captivity. (See previous Blog: God Answers Eventually, Just Not Quickly). Their armies had been defeated, their nation destroyed, and many of the people killed. The rest were taken into bondage, either in the land or transported back to Babylon. The people were wondering what was happening, why God allowed this to happen. So God dictated a letter to Jeremiah to send to them. It is in Jeremiah 29.
First of all, God tells them He will deliver them eventually, just not quickly (29:10). Then He gives them a wonderful promise, but one that probably seemed lifeless to them at the time. “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)”
Did you know God has plans for you? Not just a plan, but plans, plural. That means He is thinking about you – a lot. He thinks about you because He loves you and you bring Him pleasure – just like you enjoy thinking about your children. He thinks about you because He has dreams of what He wants you to become in life. However, unlike a parent, He can do something to bring those dreams to reality.
Those plans include conforming us to the image of Jesus – making us more and more like Jesus every day. He alone knows how to do that in us and He promises He will bring it to pass (Phil 1:6). We may not always like the process, but it is guaranteed we will love the product! (Doylestown, PA April 4, 2016)
Psalm 139:16 says “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Ps 40:5 Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus
Take a few moments to look back over your life and all God has done to bring you to this point. Has He made any mistakes? Could you have done better?
Now thank Him for His perfect plans for you. Resubmit to them and to Him, trusting He is working all this for your good.
The hardest part of all, though, is to thank Him for what is going on in your life now. Recognize it as God’s perfect plan for you and stop fighting it or trying to change it.