Jeremiah 29:11-13 English Standard Version
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[peace] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Some of us have a problem knowing what to do next. Let us remind ourselves what God has said on the matter.
The first step is that God has already set a plan in motion. This is the Alpha and Omega who knows all things from the end, back to the beginning. He already knows how things will turn out. If He has set a plan in motion then He knows how it will turn out. His plans do not fail.
The second thing is our expectation of what those plans mean for us. That is selfish but we are human and we often look at things from a standpoint of “what’s in it for me?” When we think of welfare, do we equate that with the secondary meaning of peace, or do we look at it in physical terms? Welfare could be safety, health, success or even wealth. What we expect will often be used to try and determine in human terms what God’s plan is rather than just watching it unfold for us as God’s will is discovered. All we can look for is that it will not be a bad thing, not leading us to evil.
Tomorrow is the future. His plans progress every day. Progress is His plans unfolding. If we do not feel like we are not progressing we can feel that we are not in HIs will because things are not working out the way we hoped. What we fail to understand is that the hope is in God and not in us. It is our future but His plan and His hope.
When we realize all this then the next progressive movement takes place. We call on Him. We have come to the point where it is no longer all about what we want and what we hope and we open up to Him in prayer. Of course He hears us, that was in the plan all along. So why do we doubt God’s Word? Maybe because we don’t think we have honestly sought Him with all our heart. Seeking with a heart that belongs to God, that is His dwelling place, which knows Him in ways our minds are only faintly familiar with, is not a mental exercise, it is an exercise of faith.
Why does this have to be so complicated? If it was easy we would do it and this is God at work in us and through to execute His will according to His plan for His glory.
Philippians 2:13 English Standard Version (SEV) for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.