THE PLANS OF GOD - Part
1
The book of Jeremiah is a book that continues
to fascinate me. In Jeremiah 1:4-5 God informs him that he was known by
God while he was still in His mother’s womb and set apart for God’s service as
a prophet even then. In verse 6, Jeremiah counters with his youth and
inadequacy, but God responds in verse 7 with His purpose and will to be
expressed through Jeremiah. When Jeremiah signed on for being a clear spokesman
for God to the Jewish nation, I am sure he did not have in mind all the things
that happened.
They were stubborn and would not listen. The
false prophets in the land had predicted deliverance from their enemies while
Jeremiah predicted defeat. Many were against him and even some in his own
family put him in stocks and threw him down a well. As he prophesied the
decline of their nation, the exile of their leaders, and the loss of freedom,
it became a reality in 597 B.C. with the invasion of the Babylonian
empire. On two occasions Jeremiah is reduced to tears as he sees the
disobedience of his countrymen and in chapter 2:1 it crystallizes when God says
“I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you have loved me and
followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.” The children of
Israel in their youth as a nation had been devoted to God even through the
desert both with Abraham and as they left slavery in Egypt behind and began to
build their lives in the promised land of Israel. Time and again the people had
forsaken God and this time the consequence was greater as they would become a
displaced people conquered by a foreign power.
As we read through Jeremiah there are glimpses
though of God’s redemptive nature and His desire for them to know His love. In
Jeremiah 29, we come upon one of those glimpses. The scene is this; Jeremiah
has been left behind, as in Jerusalem he represented no threat to the
Babylonians. Only certain segments of society were taken, the royal family, the
aristocrats, the cultural and political influencers ,
the youth, the artists and craftsmen. And in this setting, the city of
Jerusalem is left desolate with few people to tend to it and a foreign power
governing. Jeremiah, recognized as a prophet, decides to write a letter to
those in exile. Here is an excerpt of what he says found in Jeremiah 29:4-7.
4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of
Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build
houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry
and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters
in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number
there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity
of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it,
because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
If you and I had been exiled from our homeland
what would we do, would we want to put down roots in the place we are forced to
live in? I believe we would long for the day we could return, we would be
critical and uncooperative, we would live with a hatred for our captors.
Jeremiah says put down roots for now because further down the chapter this is
what the letter says in verse 10.
This is what the LORD says: "When seventy
years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious
promise to bring you back to this place.
God was promising the return to their homeland
and following that, God says this through Jeremiah.
11 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. 12 Then you will call upon me and
come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will
seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I
will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back
from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I
have banished you," declares the LORD, "and
will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."
Three points are made in these verses and in
two weeks time I will enlarge on those when I write the second part of this
article.
By:
Pastor David Jones