For the past week or more, God has been nudging me to read and think about Jeremiah 29:10-14, one of my favorite verses. Here’s how it reads in the message bible . . .
This is GOD's Word on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. "When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.”When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." GOD's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—GOD's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.
These verses are full of God’s promise to take care of us . . . to bring restoration . . . to give us the future we hope for . . . when we pray, God hears us . . . when we look for Him, we will find Him. The next verse is what really caught my eye these past few days . . . “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.”
I’ve had to search my heart these past few days . . . how long have I rested on my backside “waiting” for the promises in these verses to appear in my life. Well, they won’t just appear one day . . . God’s waiting on ME . . . am I serious about finding HIM? Do I want HIM MORE THAN anything else? It’s all about my CHOICES . . . to read His word, to trust Him to bring revelation of Himself to me, to pray (talking AND listening to Him), to worship Him not just on Sunday mornings . . .
During the circumstances in our lives, sometimes it seems that God has forgotten us. He's always there . . . always listening. I believe God is preparing us for a new beginning with him at the center, just as He did the children of Israel when they were in captivity?
If I/we get serious about finding God and want Him more than anything else, He will be found. He promises us that . . . it's my/our choice.
1 comment:
Amen to everything you said, Arlene. I know God us doing a work in all of us. The days ahead are going to bring out the Godly Character in us - pressure will produce - and pressing into God is going to make us come out pure as gold. I used to think it all got easier and in a sense it does - but in another sense God demands more of us. To whom much has been given, much is required. And we have been given so much that we can now give out to others.
Thank you for sharing!
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