Insured!

Insured!

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. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

The events of our recent lives may give the impression that God has lost control of His creation, but today's extract is another reminder of God's awesome power and grace. To fully understand today's extract, we must remember the words that have become consistent over the past few devotions: God will punish sin, no matter in whom it is found. You can be the best of people, used of God mightily but sin will reduce you to nothing if you do not repent of and forsake it. Israel was God's chosen people, but now in exile, cast into Babylon as a result of their sin. Once again, let it be known: God has no favourites when it comes to sin. He does not lower His standard for anyone. 

So, Israel went into captivity but the people still held on to false hope that it was just a temporary thing that would soon change. False prophets took advantage and gave false hope, claiming that Israel would soon return. God made it clear, and then gave these words through Jeremiah, which are in the verse before today's extract: This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.  Jeremiah 29:10 NIV. For Israel, God knew where they were: Babylon. He knew how long they would be there for: 70 years. He knew the process for their return and He had given them His Word, which has never failed, that He would return and restore them back to their own land. 

When you have a sure word from God like this, does it not set your heart at rest that no matter what happens, God has your back? No matter the physical or mental realities around me, I keep the words of today as a spiritual bulwark against the enemy's suggestions. God's Word has never been known to fail, no matter how many generations pass. The promise of redemption by God in the Garden of Eden took maybe almost 4,000 years, yet it surely came to pass. That is consistency and faithfulness.

And the details of the plan align with the nature of the God who makes the promise. How can a fig tree bear pears? Science has not been able to change the output of a seed that has germinated in the ground and is already growing. You can graft in something else to the branch, but you cannot affect the quality of the seed unless you uproot the entire plant. God cannot produce evil; it is sin that leads us down dark paths, and produces evil consequences. God is a good God, and all who submit to Him get only good. God is NEVER interested in the death of a sinner but that all come to repentance, but He also does not go against the exercise of our freewill. If I reject God, how can I claim His salvation? If I reject the One meant to save my soul from death, how do I claim the eternal life that lies at the end of my present earthly life? 

So, let it be known today that God is interested both in my present and the future. That is why His promise here is not just about today, but also about the future. God is not like the devil, trying to manipulate the present into his own kind of determined end, but God knows and holds the future, and He is able to work out the present to align with His plan. So I rest assured that I am in God's hands, the best place to be. He is in control of all that goes on around me and He alone has power over life and death. Nothing happens outside His permission, and when He speaks, His Word becomes the standard that He is bound by. Get a Word from Him about your situation today and rest assured that heaven and earth will have to pass away first before His Word can ever be broken. His time of favour is here.