For I Know the Plans I Have For You – Tackling 2019

Time magazine recently unveiled its Person of the Year. This act inaugurates the year-end frenzy of media reflection on 2018. Similarly, Americans will turn introspectively to their personal achievements and shortcomings for the year. Regardless of their conclusions, many will optimistically look to 2019 and set new goals. While personal ambition is not bad, 2019 should be the year of seeking God’s plan for your life.

Jeremiah 29:11, the oft-quoted verse of comfort states, ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’ This declaration from God, by the hand of Jeremiah in a letter, to the exiled Jews is found in the middle of the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. It was 594 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar carried off the Jewish officials, priests, and elders to Babylon. The remaining Jews were either slaughtered or left with famine. Judah, the southern kingdom, and its capital Jerusalem were ravaged. The crushing defeat humiliated the Judeans, a calamity for an honor-based culture who was respected by its allies and enemies alike for its mighty God.  Why did YHWH allow this?

The answers are found in Jeremiah as well as the continuity themes in the Bible. God loves his People and He has set his people apart. God promised to keep, bless and protect his people, which He repeatedly does in the Old Testament. Because He loves his people, it angered Him that they disobeyed Him, and worst of all, they worshiped idols. We know that those who we most love are the ones who can hurt us the most. For God it is no different, and He characterized the betrayal as akin to marital infidelity. The book of Jeremiah displays God’s patience and the opportunities for the Jews to repent. They did not, and like a loving father disciplines his child for their own good, the Jews were punished and sent to “timeout” in Babylon. God finally had their attention. Jeremiah 29:11 reinforces to them that He still loved them, and He reveals a divine plan for them. He proves that He is just and trustworthy. It marks a turning point similar to a father pulling his child out of his room after a punishment. The relationship is reset, God provides another chance, and He paints a vision for an ideal future.

Maybe your 2018 was fraught with mistakes, or maybe, it is time to move beyond the status quo.  The Bible is replete with stories of rebellion and redemption, but no story is greater than that of Jesus Christ. It is impossible for us to have a relationship with a perfect and holy God without removing the barrier of our sins. Fortunately, He has a plan for us, and it was to send Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we could come into a relationship with Him. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, and you confess your sins, then you are set apart, you are loved, and you are on the path that the God of the universe has set for you. Now, it’s a matter to continue down that path, and Jeremiah 29:12-14 provides direction – come and pray to me, and I will listen. When you seek me with all your heart you will find me.

Your resolution for 2019 is to make God your top priority, seek a deeper relationship with God, and He will reveal to you His divine and trustworthy plan for your life.

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The above excerpt is taken from an application and exposition of Jeremiah 29:11. It is written by Neon for a Bible Study Methods and Hermeneutics Class at Dallas Theological Seminary.

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