THE PLANS OF GOD (Part 2)
Two weeks
ago we began a short journey in Jeremiah 29. We have discovered how through the
discipline of God the Jewish people had been exiled to Babylon, but encouraged
by a letter written to them by the prophet Jeremiah. God gives them
instructions and promises through His word. Verse 11 keys in on three things
that display the heart and character of God. It says the following; Jeremiah 29:11 (New International
Version) 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.
Three
things stand out in this passage and they are as follows
“I know the
plans I have for you”
Firstly God
has plans for His people. Life may appear haphazard. History has been described
as being like the tracks made on white paper by the feet of a drunken fly. But
no, life is not random, meaningless, or absurd. God had plans for the exiles;
He has plans for us as well. What do you think this means? What kind of plans?
We all make plans in life don’t we? Whether it’s a
social outing with friends, a dinner with family, or on a much larger scale, a
vacation! Plans are made for every event from marriage to education or what we
are having for supper that night. When God speaks about plans, it’s not about
the trivial or the things that he has entrusted to us, it is about the shaping
of our lives through the things He places in our way. Often we make choices
based on those things and as we trust Him we recognize that those were His
plans for us, He just allows us to make those choices and as we look back we
see His hand all the way. Do you have an experience like that?
“Plans to
prosper you and not to harm you”
Secondly,
God knows His plans. He does not necessarily divulge them, but He has them and
knows them. Parents begin to make plans for their children before they are
born; so does our heavenly Father. Because of God’s character we know He is
good and that He is kind. The scriptures say, “God is love”. Sometimes, He will
allow us to encounter adversity in our lives that eventually will lead to
blessing. The Jewish people viewed their banishment from their homeland as a
violation of their freedom, their growth as a nation stunted and their culture
not being allowed to flourish. The instruction though was that they should grow
and pursue life to the fullest in the normal ways of life. As
we saw last week in verse 10 where it 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.” The promise was there and the Lord fulfilled it.
What we saw was how the Jews did just that and they prospered in the exile.
They filled influential positions and were able to show that their God was
faithful even in this situation. We have the account of this in the book of
Daniel with him and his friends making clear statements of faith that they
would honor their God and not give into idolatry. (See Daniel 1)
“Plans to
give you hope and a future”
Thirdly,
God’s plans are good plans. The Babylonian exiles must have found this hard to
believe, but God was determined to give them “hope and a future”. Have you ever
been in a place emotionally, physically or spiritually and you wonder, where is the light at the end of the tunnel? The
Jews felt that way and God’s promises to those that belong to Him are as good
today as they were then. Children always desire to grow up quickly so they can
do things like drive, stay up late, and eat what they want. The process, and
discipline of education and learning in life, helps us as we grow. When we are
at the age to take on responsibilities we realize why those things were in
place for us to learn from. In 2 Corinthians 4 we are encouraged to trust in
what is unseen, what is eternal. In verse 17 it says that, “our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs
them all”. God’s plans have our ultimate good in mind and as we focus on that
we can trust historical facts of people’s testimonies in the Bible as well as
those who surround us in our daily lives. Finally in Romans 8:28 God assures us
that He works all things together for our good. At the beginning of those
seventy years it must have looked bleak, but as they looked back, many probably
could say, "We have hope". And as they returned to Jerusalem, they
could say, “We have a future”.
By: Pastor
David Jones