Jan. 6th, 2016 Jeremiah 29:11-14

Jeremiah 29:11-14

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
12 In those days when you pray, I will listen.
13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 
14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

Welcome to my most overused "Get out of Jail Free" card in scripture.
When you are hurting or struggling some well meaning Christian comes and says "He knows the plans he has for you... it has a future and a hope"

And sometimes that is what we need to hear... but folks there is so much more to this passage. Just look at vs. 10... start with the chapter start... or read all of Jeremiah. 

God is telling the Israelites all the reasons he is punishing them! Why they are in bondage, exile, slavery etc... and after all of that HE says "But you know I am still SOVEREIGN right?"

Just because your favorite Aunt is dying of cancer, or Just because your marriage is falling apart due to your poor choices in the past decade... don't blame it on God. For if you come out the other side of these pains, these trials you will see that God did in fact have a plan, he had a purpose.

Does God cause our suffering? No. A sinful world causes this. God made a world that was faultless and we added the crack in that pot. We sifted in our selfishness, our insecurities, our inability to Love as He Loved us. We ruined it.

A while back I read a news story about a student on a field trip was messing around and put a hole in a 1.5 million dollar painting.  http://www.cnn.com/…/as…/boy-trips-punches-hole-in-painting/

We do that each and every day. But we do it to a PRICELESS work of art. Our sin puts holes in our lives, in our hearts, in the lives of those around us. We are walking around punching holes through art all day long...
Yet God is standing there saying, It's okay! Come back to me. I will be here and I hear you. God is saying that He can take our brokenness and remold us back into the Priceless masterpiece that He intended!

How GREAT is our GOD?
Our future may not be bright in this world but our HOPE is in the Future life that God has created us for. That is where our Future and Hope lie. He is a GOOD, GOOD Father!