Encouragement

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"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:11-13

Have you ever found yourself to be the object of someone's attraction? Maybe you had a boss or a supervisor that you decided you wanted to know what they thought of your work. You wanted to find out if you were an asset to them.

Maybe someone just decided to let you know what they thought of you.

The quote above comes from a letter written by Jeremiah, who appears to have been taking some dictation for his Boss. It was written to a people that were far from what God had intended. In fact they were just beginning to realize the consequences of their failure. They had violated two basic tenants of the legal relationship they had with God: to let the land go fallow every 7 years, and do not worship false gods.

I do not know about you, but if I was one of those Jews in Babylon knowing I was there because of my disobedience I might think, "I bet the Lord has given up on me." Actually, I have often thought that.

So it seems the Lord is aware of that and decides to use His secretary at that time. The quote above reads like it is the main theme of the letter, the summation.

We often have a plan for our lives. It may be composed of many plans but it is the plan for our life. The word "thoughts" above can be translated from the Hebrew as "plans". Plans grow from what we intend to do, what we think we are supposed to be doing. These plans are fostered from a perspective of who we think we are. The same is true with the Lord.

Since He is the Lord, He sees everything rightly. I would say His perspective is supreme. Then the "plans" He refers to is supreme. They also say same something about Him. They say He has not given up on the object of His plans. He said this to a disobedient people. How much more for one who has committed him or herself to the Lord?

He then hints at how we should respond to this revelation: Pray and find Him. He then promises we will find Him if we really want to. That is the qualifier; it has to be with all our heart. He honors passionate devotion.

From there we might discover what King David seemed to have realized. We may see the intensity of the Lord's preoccupation for us:

"How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You." - Psalm 139:17-18

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