Expect It!

Expect It!

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord , thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

First of all, the extract above looks nothing like the context in which it was pronounced. The people of Judah and Jerusalem had sinned against God, and had been taken captive to Babylon. Maybe at the back of their minds, they couldn't understand why God would do this to them, so some of them just refused to settle down in Babylon. Even false prophets had told them that it won't be long before they were returned back to Jerusalem. However, God's message to them through Jeremiah is simple: no matter what the external looks like now, I am still very much in charge.

There is a confidence that comes from knowing that God is in full control. God is banking on himself; certain that all He has planned will come to pass. Man can only plan, it is God who gives power to plans. If something does not align with his plans, it will not happen, and if I force the issue, I have to live with the consequences. At all times, I am certain of this: God knows what he is doing, and why He allows wahtever happens to me. This is true, not sometimes, but constantly, even when the physical circumstances do not agree.

Note that this message was sent to people in exile, who were receiving such a message of hope, even after receiving just punishment for sin. Do you see God's hand, even in the midst of 'evil'. God's love for me is not like man's: only shown when the person deserves it. And in the midst of all the doom and gloom, Daniel, the man who changed the face of Babylon and saw through 3 kings, was also taken captive to Babylon on one of such raids by Nebuchadnezzar. Whem you consider the story of Daniel, does it not convince you that God's plan indeed can never be thwarted?

And God promises an expected end, but then, whose view are we talking about here: mine or God's? When I submit my life to God, what I am saying is that I have given God total control over the what, when, how and why of my life. Troubles may come, trials may rage, fires may burn and waters rise, but through it all, what is key is my understanding of who God is, and that there is a guarantee that His own purpose is established and will come to pass. It is not about what I want, but about God's glory and praise.

Can I see God in the immediate and the now, certain that he has got tomorrow too figured out? His time of favour is here.