His Plans

“Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” (Psalm 33:8-11, emphasis added)

“This is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’ ” (Jeremiah 29:10-13)

We often hear Jeremiah 29:11 quoted as a word of encouragement, and it’s a good one. But verse 11 tells only part of the story; verses 12-13 continue the thought with a promise and a condition. The promise is that God will listen to his people and hear them when they pray. The condition is that his people will find him when they “seek him with all your heart.” Last week, several colleagues and I were working on a challenging project. At one point in a meeting someone said, “We sure need to be praying about this.” It was suggested that we pray right then, so we stopped, and I led us in prayer. Our prayer focused on plans: that God, whose plans founded our organization, whose plans have sustained it, and whose plans for it will continue, would meet us with wisdom, guidance and peace. I can’t speak for the others in the room, but I can tell you that a weight lifted from me as we prayed. It was a simple reminder: HE is in control; we don’t have to be. As Psalm 33 proclaims, “The plans of the Lord stand forever.” So, how do we apply this truth? We begin by seeking Him with all our hearts in every endeavor. If we make our own plans and they succeed, we can say, “Look what I did. Look at the career I’ve built. Look at my house. Look at what these hands have accomplished.” What’s wrong with that approach? Only this: Self-made people will only go so far. But if we start by seeking God’s plans and following Him, the potential for what He can do through us is so much greater than what we could accomplish on our own. Does the Lord have good plans for us? Absolutely! So let’s seek after the purposes of His heart that will endure through all generations. Let’s pray, trusting that He will listen. And let’s believe and know that when we pursue Him with all our hearts, we will truly find him.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the reminder that your plans for us are good. No matter who we are, where we come from, how checkered our past might be, our future in You is a bright one. As we seek after You afresh today and this week, we trust that You will prove yourself faithful once again to listen, to hear, to guide and to sustain us. Through Jesus we pray, with gratitude for Your grace, Amen.