The Plans He Has For You Include a Future & Hope

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Hope is a word we like to hold on to tightly. ​I hope this happens. I hope that doesn't happen. But what if you had been held captive for 70 years, your homeland had been destroyed and your relatives murdered? What if God not only allowed this, but He planned it? Could you still hold on to hope? God Orchestrated It! Just let that sink in.
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​Read these verses from chapter 29 of Jeremiah:

4 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon."

14 "I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

18 I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them.

20 Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon."

He orchestrated their exile. He drove them. He sent them. He did this to a people He loved just like He does with you and me. Quite often He sends us to places we never expected to go. He puts us in situations we never expected to be in. And why? To give us a future and a hope.

​​And what does God tell His people to do while they are exiled in Babylon?

Read verses 5-7:

5 "Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.

6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 

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."

Even in a place that is not their home, God tells them to make it their home. He tells them to build houses, plant gardens, marry, and to multiply. Most importantly, God tells the exiles through the prophet Jeremiah to seek the welfare of the city and to pray for it. "...for in its welfare you will find your welfare." ​Has God sent you somewhere you never expected to go? Has He put you in a situation you never expected to be in? ​At His orchestration, are you in a place or situation you didn't expect to find yourself in? In this place where God has sent you, in this situation where you find yourself today, are you building and planting? Most importantly, are you seeking the welfare and praying for your place of exile? "...for in its welfare you will find your welfare."

There's so much good stuff in this passage!

My favorite part of Jeremiah 29 is in verse 23:

"...I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the Lord."

He knows! He knows what I don't know. He knows what's best for me. He knows the ending of my story. He's writing the chapters. He knows and He orchestrates! 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Read on in verse 14:

"I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."

What beautiful promises! In our state of exile we will find Him. He will restore us, gather us up, and bring us back! So in this place that you find yourself today, this place of exile, this situation you never expected to be in, build, plant, pray and seek welfare "...for in its welfare you will find your welfare." And be assured that He knows and plans to give you a future and a HOPE! In Jeremiah 29, the prophet Jeremiah writes to these people, these exiles without a homeland or family. Think of these verses and these words in light of what all these people had been through. Then think of it knowing God not only allowed it, but He also orchestrated it. And He did it all for their good, to give them a future and a hope. ​​

​What is God orchestrating in your life today, for your good to give you a future and a hope?