11 For I know the thoughts that
I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give you an expected end. 12 Then
shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken
unto you. 13 And
ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
- Jeremiah 29:11-13
God has a plan for your life. He has some objectives for you. Even
knowing those truths, it’s still easy to get stuck in the bottomless vortex of questions: Who
am I supposed to marry? Where am I going to live? What
am I going to do for work? It’s time to set aside the questions and
get back to what God has said.
His plans for you are not so much about those specifics as they are about
developing your character. Everything else will sort itself out.
God always has plans for the
welfare and future of those who are His. He always has
plans to give His children hope. Even in the middle of sad and sobering
words of judgment, God poured out His heart for His people. He pointed them
(and us) toward relationship. The circumstances He allows are designed to cause
us to call upon Him. We’re always able to call, seek, and find Him
because He wants us to call, seek, and find Him!
When God says, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” His
words are a great comfort. But wouldn’t you love to get a look at those plans?
The tension isn’t, “Does God know?” The tension is, “I want to know!” Although
God understands our questions, He doesn’t owe us any answers. It’s as if He
says, “I know, but I’m not going to fill you in . . . yet.”
He does give us hints, however. God provides us with some
general categories that describe His purposes. First, they are thoughts of
peace. The Hebrew word is shalom, meaning “the complete
state of well-being; fulfillment; prosperity; peace.” As God looks down the
telescope of time, His plans are for your total well-being.
Second, His designs for you are not of evil. People who are
determined to prove they can live contrary to God’s program will pay a price
for their experiment. God’s plans take us away from evil; ours tend to take us
smack into the middle of it.
Third, God’s plans are designed, to give you an expected end, that
is a future and a hope, both immediately and eternally. The
biblical definition of hope is a confident expectation of something
better tomorrow. When your hope is in God, He’ll always deliver. It
doesn’t matter what has happened, better things are coming. That's hope! You
can be confident He has good plans for you.
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