A PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

• DAY 327
• FEAR FILE: JEREMIAH
• SCRIPTURES: JEREMIAH 29:8-11

For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD. For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 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.

Our text today is an amazing promise of God that we have declared for years. It is an assurance that we have a future. Not just any future, a good one. It reminds us of the intentionality of our God. This promise was captured from God’s word to Jeremiah concerning an exiled Israel and if you read the whole story, this word may not have been as comforting for them when God declared it.

This prophecy came to a nation in exile. They were carried as captives to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. It would have been devastating for families to be torn apart and separated, to be dragged out of their homes and placed in a foreign land. This was no vacation or relocation, they were the conquest of war. In the midst of their despair, a prophet comes with words of encouragement.

And it happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, “Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ” Jeremaiah 28:1-4

These words were what they needed to hear, it was hope and comfort in a devastating situation. Yet, there is a problem, this prophecy was false. God didn’t send Hananiah to say any of such words. Jeremiah was now sent with the tough task of telling a devastated nation that their hope was built on false premises. God was coming to save them in 2 years. They will in fact stay as captives in exile for 70 years, so they should get comfy. Build houses, settle in, get married, and embrace your bondage, you’re not going anywhere any time soon. However, don’t despair, this is my plan and it is good. Even though you’re a captive, separated from your family and foreigners in a strange place, I have good thoughts for you.

Think about hearing that, will you be comforted? How can God tell me to embrace this difficult season? Nothing is working right, I am broke, single, barren, lost, and hurt and you are saying this is your plan for me? How is this even good? Yes, friends, that tough season is in his plan. It is meant to bring something out of you. It hurts but it’s my plan nonetheless.

Beloved, do you have the faith to still hold on to a God who won’t rush to pull you out of a tough situation but will leave you in it and call it good? Because that’s the God you love. I would rather stay in exile if it’s God’s will than live free following my plan. Because in the end, I will arrive at the expected end.

Declare this with me, “For God knows the thoughts that He thinks towards me, they are thoughts of good and not of evil; thoughts of peace and not of harm. He will bring me to an expected end. Amen

Shalom.