"God's Game Plan"
Jeremiah 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
11 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.
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
INTRODUCTION:
I. The Past
a. The prophecy from God's Word
The background for this passage is to be found in the history of the nation of Israel leading up to the conquest of Judah and Jerusalem by a pagan King by the name of Nebuchadnezzar. The kings of Judah have rebelled against God and listened to false prophets. God has sent this Chaldean King to punishment them for their rebellious, idolatrous ways. Now God uses the prophet Jeremiah to deliver this message of hope.
(Jer 29:31) Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:
(Jer 29:32) Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.
Jeremiah 25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
b. The providence in God's Word
God has allowed His people to be carried into captivity but He has watched over them for 70 years and now it is time for a remnant to return to Jerusalem. God says that He is to "...cause you to return to this place." (Jerusalem)
Jeremiah 27:22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.
c. The performance of God's Word
God says "...I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you..."
One thing to realize is that even when people have not been faithful, God is faithful! The Jews had been guilty of rejecting the message and messengers of Jehovah, they had rebelled against Him in spite of His goodness to them and they had received the justice that they deserved, but even this justice was tempered by mercy.
(Psa 33:11) The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
II. The Plans
a. The consideration
How many of you would be surprised to know that the God of the universe, the creator God who spoke everything into place, would think about you? That He would give any consideration to what is going on in the life of one individual when there are 6.5 billion alive at this moment? Yet that is the case! If you are like me it is difficult to wrap my mind around that idea but nevertheless it is true. To the Jews He is saying, these false prophets do not know though they pretend to, and you do not know but I know!
(Isa 55:9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
ALL PART OF GOD'S PLAN
ILL - In the opening pages of his autobiography, "An American Life," Ronald Reagan writes, I was raised to believe that God had a plan for everyone and that seemingly random twists of fate are all a part of His plan. My mother - a small woman with auburn hair and a sense of optimism that ran as deep as the cosmos - told me that everything in life happened for a purpose. She said all things were part of God's plan, even the most disheartening setbacks, and in the end, everything worked out for the best. If something went wrong, she said, you didn't let it get you down: You stepped away from it, stepped over it, and moved on. Later on, she added, something good will happen and you'll find yourself thinking -- 'If I hadn't had that problem back then, then this better thing that did happen wouldn't have happened to me.' After I lost the job at Montgomery Ward, I left home again in search of work. Although I didn't know it then, I was beginning a journey that would take me a long way from Dixon and fulfill all my dreams and then some. My mother, as usual, was right."
(Source: An American Life by Ronald Reagan. From a sermon by Michael Wiley, "What Jesus said about God's Will" 2/11/2009)
b. The content
Would it also surprise you to know that He is thinking benevolent thoughts about you? The world seeks to characterize God as being mean, angry, arbitrary and vengeful, but that is not the God of the Bible. Whatever else the Bible may reveal about God there is one truth that stands out. We know that "...God is love," and this part of His nature tempers everything He thinks and all that He does. What is God thinking? "...thoughts of peace and not evil..."
In the notes on this passage in JFB Commentary we read, "Glancing at the Jews who had no "thoughts of peace," but only of "evil" (misfortune), because they could not conceive how deliverance could come to them. The moral malady of man is twofold - at one time vain confidence; then, when that is disappointed, despair. So the Jews first laughed at God's threats, confident that they should speedily return; then, when cast down from that confidence, they sank in inconsolable despondency."
c. The conclusion
"...expected end..." -- Again from JFB Commentary, literally, "end and expectation," that is, an end, and that such an end as you wish for. Two nouns joined by "and," standing for a noun and adjective. So in Jer. 36:27, "the roll and the words," that is, the roll of words; Gen. 3:16, "sorrow and conception," that is, sorrow in conception. Compare Pro. 23:18, where, as here "end" means "a happy issue."
In this case the end and the expectation were something that they had given up on but now would become a reality in their lives. The expectation was a renewal of hope and the end was a place called Jerusalem (home).
ILL - "The life of Jesus Christ was an absolute failure from every standpoint except God's. But what seemed to be failure from man's standpoint was a triumph from God's standpoint, because God's purpose is never the same as man's purpose." (Oswald Chambers; My Utmost For His Highest: August 5)
III. The Prayer
a. The right occasion
Notice that verse 12 starts with the word "...then..." and that brings me to the question, "When is the right time to pray?" For most of us we know what the answer is and so does the Lord for He knows more about human nature than anyone. Almost anyone will pray in a crisis, even the most hard hearted among us will pray when the pressure is on. Make no mistake my friend, God can turn up the pressure until we are willing to pray. I had a very dear friend who once told me "that God had to put him flat on his back to get him to look up!"
PRAYER'S BEST POSITION
Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background. One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship. The second suggested that real prayer was conducted on your knees. The third suggested that they both had it wrong--the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face. By this time the phone man couldn't stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground."
b. The right operation
Notice also that he says that they "...shall go and pray..." For 70 years they had neglected their worship of Jehovah and failed to go to the places of prayer. They had neglected the prayer closet, they had failed to attend the synagogue, the place of worship but now they are exhorted to pray.
(2Ch 7:14) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
ILL - Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day."
Luk 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
c. The right object
They were to "...call unto me...and pray unto me..." In the past they had worshipped and served idols. They had prayed to the sun, the moon and the stars but now they would pray to the creator God who with a word spoke these heavenly bodies into existence.
PRAYER OF A YOUNG CHILD
"Bless my mommy and daddy...and dear God, take good care of Yourself.
If anything happens to You, we're sunk."
SOURCE: Pastor Tim, http://www.cybersalt.org
IV. The Promise
a. God is faithful
FAITHFUL FOR A PROMISE
A promise from God is a statement we can depend on with absolute confidence. Here are 12 promises for the Christian to claim.
God's presence -- "I will never leave thee" (Heb. 13:5)
God's protection -- "I am thy shield" (Gen. 15:1)
God's power -- "I will strengthen thee" (Isa. 41:10)
God's provision -- "I will help thee" (Isa. 41:10)
God's leading -- "And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them" (John 10:4)
God's purposes -- "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil" (Jer. 20:11)
God's rest -- "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28)
God's cleansing -- "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9)
God's goodness -- "No good thing will He withhold from them that work uprightly" (Psalm 84:11)
God's faithfulness -- "The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's sake" (1 Sam. 12:22)
God's guidance -- "The meek will He guide" (Psalm 25:9)
God's wise plan -- "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28)
SOURCE: Our Daily Bread, January 1, 1985.
b. God may be found
Not because He is lost but because we are! Twice in this passage in verses 13-14 God promises that He can be found. He promises that he will "...hearken unto you."
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
ILL -- Post-it® Notes--Success from Failure
Everyone knows what Post-it® Notes are. They're those great little self-stick notepapers. Most people have Post-it® Notes. Most people use them. Most people love them. But Post-it® Notes were not a planned product. No one got the idea and then stayed up nights to invent it. A man named Spencer Silver was working in the 3M research laboratories in 1970 trying to find a strong adhesive. Silver developed a new adhesive, but it was even weaker than what 3M already manufactured. It stuck to objects, but could easily be lifted off. It was super weak instead of super strong. No one knew what to do with the stuff, but Silver didn't discard it. Then one Sunday four years later, another 3M scientist named Arthur Fry was singing in the church's choir. He used paper markers to keep his place in the hymnal, but they kept falling out of the book. Remembering Silver's adhesive, Fry used some to coat his markers. Success! With the weak adhesive, the markers stayed in place, yet lifted off without damaging the pages. 3M began distributing Post-it ® Notes nationwide in 1980 -- ten years after Silver developed the super weak adhesive. Today they are one of the most popular office products available.
God is an expert at making failure into successes. 1 Jn. 1:9 -- "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
(From a sermon by Michael Luke, You Fail Toward It, 6/26/2010)
Conclusion: Do feel like a failure? Have you made some mistakes in your life that make you feel like a loser? Are you in Babylon or the far country or the hog pen of life because of some bad decisions? Listen, God has had a plan for your life even before you were born. Maybe you have taken some detours but it's not too late to get with His plan and you can start right now. He is near and you will find Him if you will call on Him and search for Him with all your heart.
