“ 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 .” (NIV) Jeremiah 29:11 has always been a popular verse, especially when I was in high school and about to graduate. I remember seeing it printed on different materials like graduation cards and posters in a local Christian bookstore. It’s popular for good reason, because it’s a good verse that’s true- not just for the Jewish people, but for us the Gentile believers as well. God’s plans are good, because they include prosperity, protection, hope and a future.
So, we know God has good plans for us according to his Word, but what if we are going through a difficult time, perhaps a lonely or dark season? We may have suffered a recent loss or setback; maybe we’re struggling with sin or trying to understand the next steps to take on our faith journey. It doesn’t “feel” like Jeremiah 29:11. Where is our prosperity, where is our protection, where is our hope, where is our future?
If we’re being honest, we may have these questions. And that’s okay, because God still has plans for us, despite our feelings. And they are good plans, from a good Father. He wants to speak the following words into our hearts:
“Child, you are exactly where I want you to be, right now, in this moment of your life.”
Acts 17:26 says, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” God has determined our times and exact places of living. He sets us in the proper boundaries within the appointed times. God has always known us, ever since we were born and even ordained our days. That is very specific because He specifically thinks of us:
“ O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways…For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast the sum of them! ” (Psalm 139:1-3; 13-17).
God has us exactly where He wants us to be. In the good and in the bad. Nothing is beyond Him, because He is in control and He has good plans for us. When we feel like we are not in His will, because of our circumstances, we can remember Romans 8:28:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
And because we love Him, and He first loved us, God is working every situation, every moment, every circumstance (in all things) for our good and to the glory of His name!
-Curtis Sikes
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