In our Jeremiah passage, we stumbled across one of my favourite and most meaningful verses - Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
When Pamela and I got married we received a plaque with this verse on it. At the time, we were more interested in the envelopes with money, that we would have discounted this plaques value and meaning and simply placed it on a shelf to collect dust. The timing of "finding" this plaque shortly after opening our "meaningless" gift was instrumental in reminding us that we need to trust God whole heartedly daily as this was right around the time that we realized we would be unexpectedly expecting our first child.
As exciting as it was to know we would be parents, this excitement was equally matched with fear as we had no idea how we could make this work financially as Pamela was a student, and I did not have a full-time job. I am not saying that it was all rainbows and butterflies, but everything fell into place. Friends and family came to our assistance, I was offered a full-time position at work, we were blessed with a healthy girl (who is graduating high school this year - yikes), and we didn't have to file for bankruptcy!
There is not a day that goes by that I am not reminded of God's good plan, as the plaque is still situated on a dresser in our bedroom.
The passage continues with, "12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
God does not play hide and seek so that we cannot find Him. He is listening to our prayers, and is anxiously waiting for us to seek Him!
In our passage in Matthew we read about acceptance into the kingdom of Heaven for those who serve with no thought or intent of receiving a reward, as God gives out of grace, not debt.
There are only two possible scenarios when the Son of Man comes and we are standing in front of God Almighty. We will either be like the goats sent away to eternal punishment, or like the sheep and be invited into Heaven for eternal life. I know what side I'm going to be on!
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Jeremiah 30-31; Matthew 26:1-25
3 comments:
A verse that stood out for me was chapter 29:7 "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. "
Often we look around us and think it would be much nicer to love somewhere else, somewhere warmer or in a nicer neighbourhood. This verse talks about investing in the place where we are right now by praying for it. It also may be talking to us about the church we attend or school we send our kids to etc. These are all things we need to pray for and get involved in, in order to make a difference.
All the verses mentioned by Conrad and Nathan stood out to me too. I particular love v7 - we are to seek the welfare of our city. Obviously, this verse was originally speaking to the Israelites specifically to their situation of being exiled in Babylon, but we can apply the same truth to our lives today.
Which is something we need to remember about v11, one of the most popular and well known verses in the Bible. We can absolutely apply the truth of this verse to our lives, but it's also helpful to remember the context of the verse - it comes directly on the heels of Jeremiah bursting the false bubble created by Hananiah who has said the exile would only last 2 short years. Jeremiah's words would have been devastating to the people - 70 years?! How is 70 years in exile a hope and a future? Because God wants His people, corporately, to be redeemed and whole again - and He wants that for us today. His plans may not look like our plans, and this verse certainly doesn't promise an idyllic life - but it reminds me of Romans 8:28 - God works everything out for our good and His glory for those He loves. Corporately and personally, then and now.
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of my favourite verses too for the reasons that Conrad mentioned. What an encouragement it was for us to receive that verse on a plaque right after finding out that our plans were very different from God's plans.
This was a good reminder: 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me.’
What am I doing?
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