Journal Entry ~ 02/27/19

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah 29:11

Such powerful teaching for me in this passage. Though the focus will be Jeremiah 29:11 this week, it's important that we set the context for why God said these things to the Israelites to fully understand and apply His words to our life. In the verses that come just before the well known Jeremiah 29:11, the Israelites had been praying to God to rescue them from their exile in Babylon, and they were waiting for the word from Jeremiah that God was indeed coming to rescue them from their difficult trial - and soon. 

But the word didn't come that He would bring them home, the word came for them to stay. Not just stay, but set up shop there - build houses, plant farms, have families. Those are long-term plans, which means He didn't plan to rescue them for quite some time.  He wanted them to stay because He had something IN the trial for them. His plans for a good future included the refining work that would take place by them staying IN the trial. 

I remember the first time I received this teaching, it hit me like a ton of bricks. We pray and we pray for God to rescue us from our trials, for Him to just work everything out the way we want Him to...but sometimes He allows us to sit in our trials for awhile. Why?  Because the plans for our good future includes the refining work that's taking place in that trial. 

Stay in your trials if that's where He has you, my friends. Look for what He has for you IN the trial - allow Him to refine you by revealing your deficiencies to you, confess and submit those weaknesses to God - that's where we find freedom. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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