Hope in His Plans: Understanding God’s Work in Our Lives

Jeremiah 29:11-23

Last week, we discussed how God is working with Hope in the Exile. We discussed how sometimes we feel the urge to run from situations that God has allowed to happen to us. But if we remain still and trust that He is God, as stated in Psalm 46:10, He will work out everything for His glory and our purpose. This leads us to this week’s focus in Part 2 of God is working. God allows us to make choices, but He never permits us to stay in those choices if they are not from Him. Once we surrender our lives to Him, as Paul says, we become slaves to Him.

Psalm 46:10 NASB95

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

How many of us have ever assembled something without the instructions? This week, my dad, Brook, and I installed a new garage door opener. I am not sure who thought it was a good idea to leave the box without written instructions, but that's what happened. I thought, how hard could this be? Well, it turns out the hardest part is making it work. After two days in the garage, which had reached a scorching heat, and Brook downloading instructions from an app, the garage door would not operate. One sensor had an orange light and one had a green light. The instructions indicated that the orange light meant low power. Brook talked to a man from customer service, and he explained that one needs to be orange and one green. After the backup battery charged, the garage door finally became operational. Some of us are trying to live and do what God wants us to do without looking at the instructions. If we read through His instructions without understanding, we fail to call on the customer service (Holy Spirit) to open our eyes to His plans. Others of us want to turn the instructions into something we want them to say and ponder why it is not working. But what I have learned is that His plans and His ways do not fit into my plans nor my ways, Isaiah 55:8-9. There are three ‘P’s’ that God gives Jeremiah for those in Exile, those who did not go into Exile, and those who are prophesying falsely in Exile and Jerusalem.

Isaiah 55:8–9 NASB95

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

The first is “Promise of Prosperity.” The second is “Pathway to Restoration.” The last is “Peril in Rebellion.”

Promise in Prosperity: 11-13

Disclaimer: This is not prosperity in name it and claim it, a false gospel. God is telling the Israelites and Judah that He has a plan for them. This technically is a conditional statement. Verse (11) could be stated “If I know the plans that I have for you….” With verse (12) already in the second part, with “Then….” Verse (13) is the second part of the conditional statement. If you will seek me…with all your heart…then you will find me. God knows the plans He already had for them and for us. Let us read verse 11 by taking out the conjunction ‘for’ which is the Hebrew word (ki), which also can mean ‘if.’

If 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. He knew that they would call upon Him. Deep down inside every human being is a tug on their heart that was written by God. It is where our morals come from. It is His law, Jeremiah 31:33. What happens to us when we are drawn to the Son? We come into that irresistible grace that is only found in Christ. He puts the Holy Spirit in our heart, and we are made new in Him, Ezekiel 36:26-27.

Jeremiah 31:33 LSB

“But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Ezekiel 36:26–27 NASB95

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

He has given them and us His plans, but He had not removed the scales from their eyes or from our eyes to see them clearly, Jeremiah 30:9-10. But it is also in verses 14-17, which is their pathway back to restoration.

Jeremiah 30:9–10 ESV

But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.

Pathway to Restoration: 14-17

Most of us struggle with the “why me, Lord” question. Why am I going through this, or why am I on this island? Today, some might feel like they are in exile of some sort. Maybe we feel like a loved one has moved us into exile from their lives, when in fact it was God. God sees the plans He has for us, and sometimes it means Him moving people out of our lives so they will not be a hindrance to His work. Judah was going to be taken into captivity for two reasons. First, they abandoned God and worshipped false gods. The second reason is that God needs to purify those who have come to power over them and led them astray. God removes us from situations, and we sometimes get mad at Him. But if we could see what He sees, we would understand and thank Him.

We learn from these verses that God already has His plan of restoration in the works. In Deuteronomy 30:1-10, God tells the Israelites that Restoration is always promised. This same truth is for us today, but we get into our wounds and do not call upon His name. It takes time because God does not move a man’s speed but His.

Deuteronomy 30:1–10 CSB

“When all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am commanding you today, then he will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. Even if your exiles are at the farthest horizon, he will gather you and bring you back from there. The Lord your God will bring you into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live. The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. Then you will again obey him and follow all his commands I am commanding you today. The Lord your God will make you prosper abundantly in all the work of your hands, your offspring, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land. Indeed, the Lord will again delight in your prosperity, as he delighted in that of your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by keeping his commands and statutes that are written in this book of the law and return to him with all your heart and all your soul.

But His plan was not just to bring them back to the land but back to Him, which is seen through the work of Christ. Why would our Father want us to only return to the place He moved us from, but not back to the One who is doing the moving? Why would a loving Father want to bring back people who have not repented of their wicked ways into the lives of His children to hinder us? Sometimes this separation from those we thought loved us is a permanent one, and every time it happens, it's for our benefit. Judas Iscariot is someone we can look at and see that his removal from the apostles was beneficial for them and the advancement of the kingdom. Jesus knew all along that he would be His betrayer, but never removed Himself from fulfilling God’s plan for redemption. He sat with Christ, heard His teaching, saw the miracles, and yet he still did not believe. Some people God has removed from your life will never accept Him, which may cause you to stumble in your walk. Praise God, He removes those who are stumbling blocks to us.

This leads us to the last ‘P’ of Peril of Rebellion.

Peril of Rebellion: 18-23

Those who are in a constant rebellion against the Lord will face consequences. I want us to heed a warning from God. It is not our job to bring vengeance upon those who are in rebellion. As much as we would like to have some justice done our way, this is the way I felt with the garage door opener company, it is not ours, Romans 12:19; Nahum 1:2.

Romans 12:19 NASB95

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Nahum 1:2 NASB95

A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies.

Instead, our hearts should be broken for those who stay in rebellion. We know what lies for them who do not turn from their wicked ways once they are drawn to the Son by the Father. We need to listen to the Words that God told Isaiah 35:4.

Isaiah 35:4 NASB95

Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.”

Listen to what God is going to do with those who have falsely prophesied, driven His people away from Him, and caused this calamity to fall upon them (18-21). These men will always be known as a curse. Praise God that He deals righteously with those who call upon His name in their calamity. Praise God that He sent His Son into the world to redeem it if the second part of John 3:16-18 is read together. Too many people are walking around just reading the 16-17 but not understanding that this is a conditional clause. If you believe in Him, then you shall have everlasting life, but if you do not, you will be condemned.

John 3:16–18 NASB95

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Just like the wicked men mentioned in Judah and Babylon, they did not taste salvation.

Time is running out. Every day, we are getting closer to His return. In your personal life, you are not guaranteed the next breath. Corporately, we see the handwriting on the wall, indicating that the world is becoming increasingly distant from God. But our God has not forgotten us. He lives within us and knows the plans of hope and future for us. This hope and future are being stored up in Heaven for us to enjoy for eternity. Let us not waver in the work that we are doing for Christ. Pray that we are not like these men, Judas, nor like Ananias and his wife Sapphira, who, despite having so much, have hindered the Holy Spirit in the work He is doing in us and through us.

Instead, allow us to be the vessel of honorable us, through which God will reveal His plan for us.