Plans . . .

“For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” –Jeremiah 29:11

2 questions: First of all, can you trust GOD? Meaning—can GOD be trusted? The answer is YES! The second question is the same but different? Can YOU trust God?—meaning, are you capable of releasing control and letting God handle things? I can’t answer this one for you but your ability to receive the promise is contingent upon your trust.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a wonderful promise that most of us have become familiar with and look to when we face uncertain days.  To benefit from the promise requires trusting in God. There are four aspects to this great promise.

God has plans for you . . .

#1—Plans for Welfare. The word translated, “welfare” here is the Hebrew word, “Shalom”, which means peace—the absence of conflict. Peace comes not just when your problems go away, but when you trust God with your problems. He promises peace—but the way to get there is through trusting God.

#2—Not Plans for Calamity. “Calamity” here is from the Hebrew word, “Rah”, which means bad or evil. Literally think of it as things or situations that are detrimental. You will face hardship, but if you trust God, then you can recognize that all thing work together for your benefit and thus they are not detrimental (“Rah”). Calamity is removed by redefining problems as opportunities. This obviously requires trust.

#3—Plans to Give you a Future. The word, “future”, here literally means, “end”. There will be an end to these troubles. Your time of exile is limited. You just have to make it one more day…one more hour…one more minute…one more second. Don’t take on tomorrow’s issues today—just make it today.

#4—Plans to Give you a Hope. I love this one. “Hope”, in the Hebrew here can mean, “rope”. What? Rope? Yes, rope—a life-line. Something to hang on to in the midst of the storm. My dad tells a story about being out in the fields with his father when he was young. They lived near Dalhart, Texas and in those days, massive dust storms would come up and make it nearly impossible to see and difficult to even breathe.  One of those storms hit suddenly and my grandfather led my dad back to the house by making his way to the barbed wire fence and slowly following the fence back to the house while holding on to that wire. They followed a fence—a rope—a hope!

Today, I want to challenge you to trust God. Trust doesn’t mean doing nothing—it means doing the plans that God has already prepared for you—it means following the fence home.