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. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 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.”
Contrary to popular belief, God does have a plan for you. And for Refuge. That plan will bring hope always.
Many of you may ask, “Really? How can people walking away or divorce or adultery or sexual impurity or gossip or pride or any number of other things we’ve witnessed over the past year be part of the plan - part of the “good, undisasterous plans giving us hope and a future?”
Without getting entangled in a theological debate, those things aren’t part of God’s plan. These things occur when we wander into our own plans and priorities. God’s plans for both us personally and collectively (Refuge) is laid out in the second part of the reading. God’s plans and promises include:
- Responsive Prayer - Yahweh says when you pray, He will listen. Translation: When you’re in constant communication with God, He listens. And we, in turn, will listen as well. Staying in touch with the Lover and Romancer of our soul will keep us from disastrous circumstances.
- Seek Wholeheartedly - Yahweh desires Refuge to seek Him. Not just with mere curiosity, but with our whole heart. In this sermon message, John mentioned the metaphor of a dating relationship. When we fall in love, we want to spend the majority of our time with our love. We want to know everything about them. And we want to give them our whole heart. Same thing with God, on an even greater level. We will find God and His plan, when we give Him all of our affection.
- Faith - The final verses in the reading deal with faith. Refuge must believe (wholeheartedly again) that God is who He says He is and that whatever He tells us will come to fruition. We must have the faith to stand in His promise. We must take His word, even when we can’t “see” His plan or understand it.
These simple things are God’s plan. God always does such a complete healing in us that we often think the disasters befalling us are somehow a part of His plan. They aren’t. But His plan shines through them.
Let us “make every effort to fulfill our high calling” that He is carrying us towards.
