PERHAPS ONE THE MOST QUOTED Scriptures:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
A beautiful promise to Israel that after 70 years of captivity, He would move on a holy remnant of people to pray, to seek Him with all their heart and restore them as a nation. It’s a scripture that brings God’s people hope in the midst of difficult times.
God reminds us that He is faithful and that He has perfect timing in all things. Oswald Chambers said, “Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order”. If you are submitted to the Lord and you are a sheep in His fold, then you are following Him. He leads you in places you need to go through, no matter how difficult or trying.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” 1 Peter 1:6-7
We are gently reminded that when we seek Him with all our heart, He will be found and He will answer. Jeremiah reminds us that God is a God of restoration and He desires for His people to be victorious and draw near to Him. However, it does not mean that you make your plans and decisions for your life and put God’s stamp of approval on it. It does not mean that you disobey the Word and the Spirit and get a successful end just because you claimed this scripture.
Remember, most of Jeremiah’s generation were going into captivity and would die in captivity for their rebellion. The promise was for a new generation. Disobedience will destroy what God wants to do in you. Rebellion is costly. You cannot do what you want to do and claim it’s God’s plan. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
“Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:6-11 NKJV
Do you want His perfect plan and peace? Stay in His will by staying at His feet and in His Word. Seek Him in prayer always and never stop asking. Search out His Word with all your heart and wait on His timing and then you can claim His future in your life.
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!”
Psalms 84:11-12