“For I know the plans I have for you…”

That has got to be one of the most encouraging and hope-filled statements in the Bible.

If you are reading this post before part 1 and part 2, please click to go back and read those.

It will make more sense. =-)

The Israelites are finally getting the words they have been longing to hear. God told them to settle down and work. This verse is tells us the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’.

What were they supposed to do? Look at the verbs in verses 5-7: BUILD, SETTLE, PLANT, EAT, MARRY, REPRODUCE, INCREASE, SEEK, PRAY

That is the work God called them to do. And now He explains why.

He has a plan.

He knows that plan.

The plan is to prosper, bring hope and a future.

Jeremiah was not the only author to write about the plan of God. Here are a few highlights;

• Genesis 50:19-20 reveals Joseph understanding that God had a plan.
• Exodus 1-5 explain how Moses was part of God plans to free the Hebrews.
• If we skip to the new Testament, there are too many examples of Jesus talking about ‘the plan’. He kept saying how it was not His time yet. There were words of a plan in those statements.
• Paul, writing to the church in Galatia, eludes to the plan of God. Here is verses 4 and 5 of ch. 4, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
• Turn to the back of the book. Revelation 22:20 tells us, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

God always has had a plan. That plan is never gone. Whatever our situation is at any given time, we can know and trust that God’s plan is still there. The really cool thing is that He wrote it down for us so we don’t have to doubt it.

I think the exiles were grateful that the letter they received had the what (meaning the work they needed to do) but it also contained the why (God’s plans for them).

The point is to go to work and understand that God has a plan for your life.

Trust in Him and work hard.