Guest blog written by Mrs. Bethany Cain.
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. | Jeremiah 29:11
“You can go three weeks without food, three days without water, three minutes without breathing, but you cannot go three seconds without thinking.” Dr. Caroline Leaf
Peace for Each Day
In our day, everyone has thoughts and opinions, and are eager to share. Sometimes we don’t even understand our own thoughts and minds.
As we go through the ups and downs of life, it can be easy to ascribe a finite mind to an all knowing infinite God. When we experience difficulty, there is a tendency to believe that God is upset or angry with us. In the book of Jeremiah, the people of the southern kingdom of Judah were being taken into captivity by the Babylonians. They deserved their sentence. God warned and extended mercy, but after years of patience, they rejected His call to restoration and repentance. They were suffering terrible consequences. Those in bondage may have felt forgotten or forsaken. God‘s people had either failed to remember or did not know His thoughts toward them.
In the beginning verses of Jeremiah chapter 29, God told the children of Israel to settle in for the long haul. They would be in captivity for 70 years. Many would never live to see their homeland rebuilt. As their hearts sank. God tells them, "I know the thoughts I think toward you.”
God reminds them through the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 29:11
God uses the word toward, rather than the word of, when referencing His thoughts about the children of Israel. Toward, in this passage, means God’s thoughts go beyond us, above us, and in spite of us. Not only does God Himself completely surround His people with His presence, but hHs thoughts do as well. He reminds us that they are thoughts of peace to give hope for the future. We can’t trust ourselves or our own perceptions; we must be rooted and grounded in the truth of God‘s Word to gain an accurate perspective of his thoughts. We can remind ourselves of what God actually thinks as Jeremiah did in Lamentations chapter three. God is good and his compassion NEVER fails.
Here are just a few reminders:
Ps. 139:16-17- God thinks innumerable, precious thoughts toward us.
Ps. 115:12- they more than the sand on the sea shore
Prov. 4:23 His thoughts are not our thoughts.
Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, helps us to adjust our spiritual lens to correct our perception of God’s thoughts when they are jumbled, “Brethren, we cannot know the thoughts of the Lord because they are too high for our conception, or too deep for our understanding. Yet, the Lord knows them.”
We can rest in the fact that the sovereign Lord knows His thoughts toward His people, even when they cannot feel Him.
Hope for the Future
God has a hopeful future planned, even in deserved judgment. It is our natural tendency to lose hope and think God has cast us off in displeasure. God showed Jeremiah that He had a clear plan for the children of Israel. Because God’s nature is just, He can’t go against it. This doesn’t mean he delights in carrying out judgement. However, he doesn’t simply act and walk away.
The Israelites’ time in captivity helped pave the way for the spread of the gospel in the years to come. God‘s ultimate desire is always restoration.
For the New Testament Christian, our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope for daily living and our hope for eternity. The believer is promised an expected end. We can find that promised end throughout the pages of scripture. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. God always finishes what he starts and nothing is ever wasted.
What we assume God is doing is not always accurate. He always has the end result in view. A friend recently shared a metaphor with me that can give us perspective on the mind of the Lord. “God is often playing chess while we are playing checkers.” He is so far beyond us we aren’t even on the same playing field. God is always, only good. Working our good for his glory. His thoughts are toward us and for us.
For more verses about God's peace, check out our Verses for Peace verse card set here!
