WEEK 1 “FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU..”

JEREMIAH 29:11 “FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU...”

“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.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Read Jeremiah 29:1-32

1.THE CONTEXT: Firstly notice that this verse starts off with the word “FOR”. This is a joining word, which means it is connected to the previous verse!! In the previous verse and from the beginning of chapter 29, we see that Israel was just told by God through the prophet Jeremiah, that they were going to spend the NEXT 70 YEARS IN EXILE! It is at this point in time, when Israel would have been feeling so disheartened, that God now encourages them in vs 11 that His plans for them are ultimately to prosper them and to give them a HOPE and a FUTURE!! But remember the context, Israel would HAVE TO WAIT at LEAST 70 years to see God’s ultimate prospering come to pass!!

Soo often, we quote Jeremiah 29:11 and wonder why God hasn’t prospered us yet. But now understanding this verse in its context, maybe the reason The Lord hasn’t prospered us yet is because we “need to go through that period of exile, testing and discipline first”, just as Israel did! ARE YOU WILLING TO PATIENTLY WAIT THE PERIOD OF EXILE TO RECEIVE THE PROMISE? (From the time Abraham was told he would be made into a great nation (Genesis 12:1-3) and have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15), Abraham would have to wait something like 25 years before Isaac came on the scene!)

2.”I KNOW” the plans I have for you....

Notice this verse says that GOD KNOWS THE PLAN for our life? It doesn’t say that He would necessarily give us all the details of His plan! When Joseph got that dream from the Lord that his brothers would bow before him (Genesis 37:7-10), The Lord never told him that in order to get there, he would have to be sold as a slave by his brothers (Genesis 37:23-28) and unfairly thrown into prison for years, for upholding God’s standards (Genesis 39:7-20)!! Yet Psalm 105:17 tells us that even though his brothers SOLD HIM, GOD SENT HIM to Egypt to prepare the way!!

In Genesis 12:1 when God called Abraham, He told him to leave his country and people and go to the land “I WILL SHOW YOU.” God never told Abraham where exactly he would be heading, but Abraham had to get up and leave and walk in faith, that God would show him along the way!! (See also Genesis 22:1-2)

So often, we want God to tell us the WHOLE PLAN UPFRONT so that we know exactly what is going to happen, but maybe the reason our Heavenly Father doesn’t do this is because it otherwise wouldn’t require us to have FAITH and TRUST that God will guide us every step of the way!

WILL WE TRUST THAT IT IS GOOD ENOUGH THAT GOD KNOWS THE PLAN FOR OUR LIFE EVEN IF WE DON’T?

3.The plans “I HAVE FOR YOU...”

Notice whose plan it is? It is GOD’S PLAN and not OUR OWN!! Often what tends to happen is that we MAKE OUR OWN PLANS and then try to include God in on them, saying “God, here is what I want to do, so could you please bless my plans...”.

But what the Lord is saying here is that we need to learn to live out HIS PLAN FOR OUR LIVES!!

Our saviour Jesus taught us to pray to Our Heavenly Father in Matthew 6:10- Let your Kingdom come, LET YOUR WILL BE DONE...

And In Matthew 26:39, when Jesus was deciding whether to go to the cross for our sins, He prayed “My Father, if it be possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet NOT AS I WILL, BUT AS YOU WILL.” (See also John 6:38)

WILL WE LEARN TO SUBMIT TO GOD’S PLAN FOR OUR LIVES?

4.”Plans to prosper you and NOT TO HARM YOU...”

This was said at a time when Israel was about to experience 70 YEARS OF EXILE and yet God says His plan was NOT TO HARM THEM! This means that the exile was actually for Israel’s good!! We find in vs 12-13 that as a result of God’s discipline through the exile, the outcome would be that Israel would CALL UPON GOD, PRAY TO HIM, SEEK HIM AND FIND HIM!

Will we trust that even in our exile seasons in life, God’s plan for us is NOT TO HARM US, but that those very exile seasons we go through ARE FOR OUR GOOD? (Romans 8:28, Genesis 50:20) Maybe it is those very exile seasons that will cause us to SEEK MORE AFTER GOD (Jeremiah 29:14) so that we too can have a HOPE AND A FUTURE IN HIM (vs 11)!

God bless!