That Christian Next Door

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. 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 vs 11 – 13 ESV

In the Old Testament Bible book of Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11, our Lord and Father, the creator of heaven and earth was speaking to His people through His prophet Jeremiah. The situational context of this message to them was that of a people who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem (home) to Babylon (abroad).

In an earlier verse (4) in the same chapter, God (the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: their forefathers) identifies himself as the one who sent them into exile. Without knowing some things of the nature of God, the message in verse eleven can come across as mixed. So, we must first establish a few facts about God and ourselves.

Well, He is God (1 Kings 18 vs 39). He is above all and below none (Matthew 28 vs 18; Philippians 2 vs 5 – 11). He is the creator of all; all things exist by Him, for Him, through Him (Colossians 1 vs 16 – 17) and without Him they would not exist (John 1 vs 3). He made us human beings, so we are his (Psalm 100 vs 3). He made us for his pleasure (Revelation 4 vs 11), according to the purpose of His will to be to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1 vs 5 -6). He does not change from his word, nature or principles (Malachi 3 vs 6).

We, human beings, fell away from Him but have being brought near to Him and into His family and into the coverage that comes with it, by His mercy and grace, because of His love that he so loved us with. The same love that saw God send His Son Jesus Christ to sacrifice himself (without cost to us) for our sins – the sins that brought us apart in the first place (Ephesians 2 vs 13 – 22). And everything that God does for those that love Him and that are called according to His purpose is always geared towards their good (Romans 8 vs 28).

So we return back to Jeremiah’s message.

Delving deeper, God’s message to the people of Israel was to live life well, enjoying what He had provided as they hoped for what He would provide. They were to “build houses” and live in them; “plant gardens” and eat of them; engage in marriage, have children, increase and not decrease. They were to work towards the good welfare of the city there were in and pray for it (Jeremiah 29 vs 4 -7).

When reflected on, these directions seem at odds with what would be expected i.e. deliverance from exile, a victorious return to their own land and restoration of everything that had being lost, taken or forfeited. So, this passage is a good example of how our picture of the ideal solution in any given moment may differ significantly from God’s own picture of the momentary ideal.

As God’s children, living lives yielded to Jesus Christ our Savior, we are advised to acknowledge God in all our ways (Proverbs 3 vs 6). In Psalm 119 vs 11, we see King David’s posture of keeping God’s word close to him, in his heart, as a way to avoid committing sin against Jehovah his God.

So, what has God said to you? When the people of Israel were in captivity in Egypt in the book of Genesis during the time of Moses, God’s purpose was to free them so they could thrive. Here in Babylon, God’s purpose was for them to remain for a while but thrive nonetheless (and there are multiple domains in which he has created us to thrive)!

God has a plan for each season of life we are in. Sometimes, the thrust of it will be the same, but at other times, the plan may be different. It will never be for regression and it will always be for growth and our good. When we are fully connected to God, what He thinks and what we think are growth or good will be one and the same. There is a misconnection if a mismatch exists.

Now, we can certainly have a rough idea of the direction of the good but how best to get there is knowledge that belongs to and comes from God. To get to know the plan for each moment of our lives requires connectivity with Him through prayer and thanksgiving, submission to Him, reading and meditating on His word, engaging with His world as he has instructed us to and resisting the devil, the forces of darkness and every God-contrary voice.

God has the plans and he knows the plans. He can talk through the plan in the same way he has spoken about having one. The plans are for welfare and for a future that is hopeful. There is no root of evil in them. So, we must call to Him. We must come to Him, pray to Him, seek Him with all our hearts and find Him. He will hear us and make himself found by us.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Jeremiah 29 vs 11 KJV

The future is not the beginning or the middle. In God’s viewpoint, it is an expected end. Satan, the forces of darkness, people and even you yourself will question what God really did say, what God really is thinking or what God really did show you. Do not fall for the deceit that who you are today is all you will ever be. God has hope and plans for you – like and subscribe to them for all the latest updates!