Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.
What a promising verse. Who wouldn't be comforted knowing that God has thoughts and plans for them? One translation says “...They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” I know a few people who could use some hope.
Well, Hope is here. It is found among these verses, and it is found all through the Word. Let's take a look, though, at exactly what we are hoping for. Back up to verse 10, “...When seventy years are completed...I will visit you and keep My good promise to you...”. Wow, seventy years! So just before this tremendously popular verse of encouragement, God has basically said, “But you have to wait seventy years for it”.
That is a long time. But when we delve a little deeper and read a little further, we realize that His plan for them is worth waiting for, and that it may not be what some might expect. Maybe you're thinking new car or a new house (a few verses earlier He does tell them to build houses, dwell in them and plant gardens and eat of them). However, that is not His plan. God is providing for their necessities (and for yours, too), but His plan involves something more, something deeper.
The next couple of verses reveal the heart of God with terms like “call upon Me”; “come and pray to Me”; “seek Me”, “inquire for”, “require Me”, and “search for Me with all your heart”. This is God's plan, these are His thoughts. That we, His precious, chosen people, would seek Him with everything we have. Then His amazing promise comes “I will hear and heed you”, and “Then you will...find Me”.
Our God is a God who is madly, deeply, crazy jealous for YOU. For you to know Him, seek Him, inquire of Him, and require Him in everything. Thankfully, it doesn't always take seventy years for us to “get” it. Maybe your heart has forgotten, and this is your reminder, that He is our hope. Seek, call, inquire, require and search for Him. “Then you will...find Me when you search for Me with all your heart”.
2 comments:
This is a very good reminder... thanks for being obedient today and sharing these words of hope.
Love you!
Awesome word, Denise!! So glad you wrote it down. Our God loves us beyond anything we can imagine or conceive, and so often as we go through life, people forget....or many simply don't know. Glad you reminded us :) Hugs
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