God’s Plans for His Children

“For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV) [Read Jeremiah 29]

Jeremiah 29 is a letter from the prophet sent to misplaced Jewish exiles in Babylon. Many thought Judah would soon be restored, since they were God’s called people. But Jeremiah saw God’s restoration differently. In Jeremiah 29:10 he told the people that after 70 years, God would restore them to the land of Judah. Here is a study outline of Jeremiah 29, a chapter which is said to be the major theme of the whole book of Jeremiah:

     1. A statement of the condition (Jer. 29:1-3)

     2. Learn to make the best of whatever situation you are in (vv. 4-6)

     3. Pray, pray, pray in whatever situation you find yourself (v. 7)

     4. Don’t listen to the wrong advice (vv. 8-9)

     5. Take the long view of the situation (v. 10)

     6. Hope in God’s plans (v. 11) [Key text, and memory verse from this passage]

     7. Above all, constantly seek the Lord and His ways (vv. 13-14)

A more modern rendition of Jeremiah 29:11 is from Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible: “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” In this verse, God speaks authoritatively about His plans, with the firm assurance that His plans also include what the believers hope for in the future. Who doesn’t want the “best” for themselves and others? God Himself wants what is best for us! We must acknowledge that our “best” plans “oft’ go agley” as Scottish Poet Robert Burns so aptly stated (we would translate: “often go contrary of what we plan.”) But if we are sincere believers who “know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, NKJV), then we can trust God to help us through any situation. Problems will be there; His power is greater than any problems we face! Selah!

Briefly stated (for it is a long story,) I give testimony to Jeremiah 29:11-13, and how it has helped me tremendously since 2002 Then I made the decision to move Grover and me to Milledgeville from the beautiful mountains of North Georgia that had been my home most of my life. There were some years away at college and a few years of “first ministry” for Grover; and then the Lord moved us to Hiawassee, and then to Epworth [in the mountains] where his ministry and my teaching—the bulk of these—occurred in the mountains. Now the story as to why we moved to Middle Georgia. In June, 2002 I decided to purchase the house next door to my daughter Cynthia’s house, and move us here (the move occurred later, February 17, 2003 when the house was ready). Grover was well into having the dread disease of Alzheimer’s. I needed family help, and received it, as well as help and support from many Christian friends I met here, and our church which ministered to both of us in such loving ways. I kept him at home with help for four more years after we moved to Milledgeville. Then in 2007, he became a patient at Georgia War Veterans’ Home here, another God-send along the long route of providing for an Alzheimer’s patient. He died January 26, 2011. I was ministered to and loved by these good people (as well as many others from long-distance, friends in the mountains and elsewhere). “I know the plans I have for you,” the Lord promised. And it has proven so true for me. “Every morning, mercies new.” God has proven in so many ways the truth of Jeremiah 29: in our “exile” here. Will I move back to the mountains? God hasn’t finished with me here yet! -Ethelene Dyer Jones 01.15.2017

Trusting the Lord’s Plans

“ ‘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. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.’” –Jeremiah 29:11-14 (ESV)

The situation for the promises found in the focal verses from Jeremiah 29:11-14 is a letter written by Jeremiah the prophet (inspired by God) to the Jewish exiles taken in 597 B. C. to Babylon. He wrote the letter to reassure the exiles that God had not abandoned nor forgotten them. The letter, in addition to being sent to the exiles in Babylon, was also circulated to the scattered and discouraged remnant remaining in Judah. 

 

He advised the exiles to make the best of the situation they were in. They were encouraged to build houses (imagine their being able to do this in exile!), plant gardens, get married, have children. The general intent was to encourage them to stay strong and look forward to being delivered, even though they would be seventy years in exile. We know from how life is that many who went into exile would meet death before freedom came and the people could return to Jerusalem. But Jeremiah wanted to infuse them with hope and to assure them that God had a future and a hope planned for them.

Jeremiah encouraged the people to remain prayerful, to seek the Lord sincerely (with all the heart) and find Him. Just because they were out of their homeland did not mean that God had abandoned them. And they were to remember with certainty that God had plans for them, “to give them a future and a hope.” When anyone loses hope he cannot hold on, cannot aspire to better prospects or to a brighter future. God who holds the future, knows what our future is.

And God declared through Jeremiah that His plans for His called-out people’s purpose was “a future and a hope.”

Maybe we have had to “go into exile,” to go away from familiar places we have loved and which have been home. It is not easy to pull up roots and relocate, to “start anew” in an unfamiliar place. Or maybe our exile is from illness or some debility that prevents our doing the work or taking on the pursuits we once enjoyed. These exiles are hard, but they are not the end of the road for us. “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord” (v. 11). Isn’t it a remarkable thought to consider that God has plans for our future and these include our welfare?

Couple this wonderful promise from Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles with Jesus’ admonition in the Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34, ESV).

Bible teacher Dr. Warren Wiersbe stated of Jeremiah 29:11: “God thinks about you personally and is planning for you. You need not fear the future.” Let us latch onto the promise in the verse and change any anxiety we have to hope and thanksgiving that even our future is secured by God Almighty. –Ethelene Dyer Jones. October 11, 2015.