ESOCS Devotional 18 March 2024 – Be Hopeful: God Has a Plan
MEMORY VERSE: ““For I know the thoughts that I have towards you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you and expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11
TEXT: JEREMIAH 29:1-14
Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders in exile and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2 This was after King Jeconiah [also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.
3 [The letter was sent] by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:
4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build yourselves houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat the fruit of them.
6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not be diminished.
7 And seek (inquire for, require, and request) the peace and welfare of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray to the Lord for it, for in the welfare of [the city in which you live] you will have welfare.
8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your [false] prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you; pay no attention and attach no significance to your dreams which you dream or to theirs,
9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them, says the Lord.
10 For thus says the Lord, When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My good promise to you, causing you to return to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.
12 Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you.
13 Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will release you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.
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Sometimes things can get so bad that all our efforts fail to prevail. Even our genuine spiritual, social and economic efforts do not scratch the surface of our problems and afflictions. When weeks of fasting and prayer, plus 30, 40 or 50 days all night prayers seem to be boosting the enemy’s onslaught against you, instead of abating it, you certainly must get worried. But one thing you must never do is to lose faith and hope in God.
When the sky gets darker and darker, it is time to keep hope alive. There are situations that would not change but according to God’s own programme. When Judah and Jerusalem were carried into captivity by the Babylonians, some prophesied that a miracle would happen and captivity will be aborted but the prophet Jeremiah after revealing that it shall be worse for those left with Zedekiah in Jerusalem, proceeded to send counsel and comfort to those in Captivity, from which we learn to make the best of things in any situation.
Has a bad leader been foisted on your nation, state, community, church or workplace etc.? Make the best of it until it pleases God to change the leadership. Have you got a pay cut, demoted or fired, and now all that is available is menial job? Make the best of it until God changes the narrative. The prophet said to them: build houses, dwell in them; plant gardens, eat of them; marry and bring forth children; increase in Babylon for there is an appointed time and it is seventy years. Don’t waste seventy years groping in false hope. Seek for, and pray for the peace of where you are captives, for in the peace thereof you will have your own peace. God is waiting to restore you back to your place in that appointed time.
Joseph was in prison but never lost hope. In due time, he was fetched out and made the Prime Minister of Egypt. Nelson Mandela was in prison, in due time, he become President of South African. Olusegun Obasanjo in due time also walked out of prison to be the President of Nigeria. Keep hope alive. Your change will come.
Hear God clearly: Even in this situation you are in, I have plans for you, good plans; not bad plans. I plan to fulfill your expectations and prayers but in my own time. Remember that “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). God’s time is the best. Wait for it, keep hope alive for hope in God never disappoints. The wise man put it this way: “Surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off” (Prov. 23:18). The Lord perform His good plans upon you, in Jesus name.
- Are you in any hopeless situation? Renew your hope. Anchor it in Christ.
- Almighty Father, I pray thee, renew my hope in thee, and make your good plans manifest for me, in Jesus name.
Further Reading: Romans 5:3-5; Jeremiah 17-8
ESOCS Devotional 18 March 2024
