Intended End

Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse among believers these days. "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "Plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

It is popular because we need the hope it gives us.

These words of the LORD were originally spoken through the prophet Jeremiah to the Children of Israel who were exiled in Babylon. They had been torn from their homes in Jerusalem and taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar and were now strangers in a strange land. Their captivity was God's discipline for their rebellion against Him.

God exhorted the captives to "Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat what grows. Let your children marry and have children. Multiply. Seek the peace and the welfare of the city in which you are held captive. Ask God to bless it. And after 70 years, I will visit you and keep My good promise to you and cause you to return back to your Jerusalem, your home."

And then He said, "For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you. Thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon me and I will hear you and heed you. Then when you seek me with all your heart, you will find Me. And I will release you from captivity and bring you back to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive."

I find it interesting that their captivity was basically for a life time as we know it now. Psalm 90:10 says, "The days of our years are threescore and ten."

Perhaps this is why I, for one, (and I suspect there are many),
am so homesick for 'Jerusalem', my heavenly home.

Perhaps this is why I always feel a bit odd;
a bit out of place; like I am on the outside looking in.

Perhaps this is why I rejoice that I am
closer to being 70 than I am 35.
I long with every fiber of my being to go back to the city
where the Lamb is the light and where all cry, "Holy, Holy!"

Meanwhile, back in 'Babylon', there is sorrow in this captivity.
Thank God it is only for a designated season.

What a comfort it is to know that He has promised
us freedom in the midst of this captivity.

He says,"Make your home here and enjoy your life, for your light affliction is just for a moment, and is working for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This captivity is temporary, but what it works in you is eternal.
So count it all joy when you fall into these trials, for the trying of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Blessed are you who endure. You know the endurance of Job and have seen the end I intended for him; the abundance of compassion and mercy I poured out on him.
And I, who am rich in mercy and love, raise you up as well, and I seat you with My Son in the heavenly places, in order that in the ages to come, I might show the exceeding riches of My grace in My kindness towards you in Christ Jesus." (11 Cor. 4:16-18; James 1:2-4; 5:11; Eph. 2:4-7)

Even when we sin and our captivity is a result of the Lord's discipline in our lives, His intentions toward us are for good and not for evil; to give us a future and a hope. It fact, that may be the very reason He disciplines us. If He left us to ourselves, we wouldn't have much of a future or a hope.

Perhaps then,
it is time that we stop searching for our old normal.

It is, I believe, normal not to feel normal.

We must stop longing for what was.

We must put our roots down deep in Him
and 'build houses' and have natural and spiritual children
and know that our captivity is just for a season;
that every temporary heartache and trouble
is working within us an eternal good,
and that His intended end for us-whether it be
at the end of a trial or a time of chastening,
or the end of our lives-is rich
in kindness, goodness, mercy, and freedom.

For He will not keep our soul in the grave.
He who promised is Faithful.