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.

Message to the Exiles...

Are you familiar with Jeremiah 29:11? "'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.'"

This is a hopeful verse of promise that many of us have held onto at some point in our lives. What you may not be familiar with is the fact that the context of this great promise is an extended time of exile--a time of great loss for God's chosen people. For a period of about twenty years, the Jewish people were successively exiled into Babylon. This captivity ultimately lasted for seventy long years. Jeremiah's promise occurs in the early days of this Babylonian exile.

Have you ever been exiled? I don't mean that you've been sent off packing to Babylon. I do mean that all of us, at different points in our lives, have experienced times of great loss--exile. We've lost our place, our power, our privilege, our purpose, and likely our peace. We've lost relationships, jobs, homes, and maybe even the will to live. With that in mind, Jeremiah 29:11 takes on new and essential meaning. In the midst of loss, God still has a plan--a plan for blessing!

In the verses surrounding Jeremiah 29:11, I've discovered seven strategic steps intended to lead us back from exile.

#1--Know the Lord - Jeremiah 29:4

#2--Live your Life - Jeremiah 29:5-7

#3--Listen Carefully - Jeremiah 29:8-9

#4--Limited and Purposeful Suffering - Jeremiah 29:10

#5--Follow God's Leadership - Jeremiah 29:11

#6--Locate God - Jeremiah 29:12-14

#7--Liberation - Jeremiah 29:14

Over the next several days, I will work through these seven steps, putting a little more meat on the bone. If you are like me--a returning exile (or maybe you are just starting a new journey into exile), God has something life-changing to say to us.

Growling the Word

"But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do." --Psalm 1:2-3 (NLT)

This is an amazing promise for those who will act on it. Delight in the law of the Lord, meditate on it day and night, and you will prosper in all that you do. Who wants to prosper in 2017? Who wants to be like a tree on a riverbank, always green and always bearing fruit? Well, count me in!

Let's focus on the two conditional elements in these verses: #1 delight on the law, and #2 meditate on the law. The law of the Lord, of course, is the entire Word of God. What does it mean to delight in it and to meditate on it?

#1 Delight: We either delight or we don't. For me, coming to the Word of God each day is like a treasure hunt. When God's Spirit reveals a truth to me, I get excited--not unlike finding hidden treasure. If I'm needing to make a decision, and I find the answer in my daily reading, I delight in it! I approach the Word that way every day. I'm looking for guidance, for wisdom, for encouragement, and for changes I need to make. As God reveals, I delight in His words of life.

#2 Meditate: This is an interesting Hebrew word--"hagah". In addition to meaning meditation or consideration, it can also mean to speak, to moan, or to growl. So to begin with, I would suggest that our time in the Word should be spent vocalizing it. You may pop into the church office one afternoon and catch me pacing the hallway, reading my scriptures out loud--even shouting on occasion. The Bible is meant to be spoken and I can tell you from experience that I get a lot more out of it when I speak it. The moaning has to do with expressions of pleasure. What I really find interesting is the idea of "growling" the Word. What is that all about? I have a dog named Gavin who can make this idea perfectly clear. When Gavin is enjoying a bone, he doesn't wish to be disturbed. He will growl if you make a move towards him because he doesn't want to lose his bone. We should take the attitude of Gavin when we are in the Word. Enjoy it and don't let anyone or anything take it away from you.

So today and throughout all of 2017, Delight in the Word, Meditate on it, and get ready to prosper.

Quiet Time: August 16, 2009

I find myself in a season of my life when I am needing to hear from God more than ever. I have deeply offended a person who means a great deal to me. My time with the Father this morning was centered on this person, my choices--both good and bad, and the steps forward that I should be taking.

From Judges I read, "For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering" (Judges 2:18). Simply put, God is a God who shows mercy to those who are broken. I am encouraged that my God does not throw us away but that he embraces us in our weakness and sorrow.

My prayer began this morning with a prayer for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I have asked that God would remove anything that is offensive to Him and that I would be made holy by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will guide me into all truth and will also convict me of all faults. The Spirit will reveal to me each step that I am to take. May I today be saturated with the Holy Spirit.

Luke's Gospel reveals the story of when Jesus sent his disciples into Jerusalem to prepare for the Passover. They are told to follow the man with a pitcher of water and that, "He will take you upstairs to a large room that is alread set up" (Luke 22:12). I am encouraged that God already has a plan for me. I simply need to follow His direction to the room that is already set up.

My second prayer is the prayer of petition--praying for myself. I am asking God to bless me: Body, Labor, Emotions, Social Relationships, and Spiritual growth.

God gave me this promise from Psalm 92: "But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted into the Lord's own house. They flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green" (Psalm 92:12-14). It's always encouraging to know that God is not through with me. He will cause me to flourish, to produce fruit, and to remain vital. And though I am not "Godly" in my actions--I stand declared "Godly" through the actions of Christ on the cross.

My third prayer is the prayer of intercession and, of course, I spent the entire time praying for the person that I have offended. I have a large rock in my office that represents the judgement that I might be tempted to throw at myself or others. I carried that rock around with me this morning as I prayed and I wept for my friend. I prayed that I might feel their pain and that I might be able to pray for their healing through the passion of that pain.

I finished my time with the Father with a time of thanksgiving. I am thanking God for the pain and I am thanking God for the restoration that will occur. I am thanking God for His promises and I am thanking God for his love.

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening" (Psalm 92:1-2).

Wait for the Promise...

I have learned from my reading of Tom Eliff books of a an often quoted influence called, "Preacher Hallock". I actually found an old and worn copy of his book that I enjoyed while at Southwestern Seminary. Preacher Hallock was famous for asking the question, "Do you have a promise?" His point was that God gives us personal promises throughout scripture and before we act on our own, we should discover God's promise. Jesus told the disciples, "Don't leave Jerusalem but wait for the promise from the Father". We should never do anything without first hearing from God. Henry Blackaby puts it this way, "don't just do something, stand there!" It is extremely foolish to plow ahead unaware of the purposes of God. Before making any significant decisions, get alone with a copy of God's Word, and find a promise.