An Expected End

Jer 29:11 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.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jer 29:14 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.

Today's verses, realized in context, speak of the purposed, 70 year Babylonian captivity of Israel. This was determined by God upon His people Israel because of their refusal to walk in His statutes.

In His wisdom and foreknowledge, and through the preaching of His faithful prophet, Jeremiah, God would see them through to an expected end and restoration in the Promised Land.

But that account holds secondary application for us. True, God allows us to see persecution, testing and trials. However, He has great purpose for those problems. Chiefly, that we might be brought closer to Him, that our faith be increased and our sins left behind.

Know that your problems are not a product of a cosmic roll of the dice, but they are a precise calculation of God, working in you His perfect plan to bring you to a much better place.

Work with His plan today, not against it.