“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (See Jeremiah 29:11 N.I.V. and Jeremiah 29:1-14 for the context.) God always has good plans for His people but they are His plans and not ours. They become ours when we surrender to His plans. Our fallen natures chafe at the idea of submission to God. Stubbornness may arise along with fear and named and unnamed concerns. We are tempted to rely on our own understanding. Lack of trust is often the root. Do we really trust that what God wants is really best?
The context for this passage is ancient Israel’s submission to God’s judgment in sending them into exile to the land of their conquerors. God assures them that if they will submit to this consequence for their sins and not resist it, they will have a life of hope and not despair in this foreign land. After a set period of time God will return them to their own land where they will rebuild and begin again. This shows that, even in the midst of a major and painful correction, God still loved them and wanted to get them back on the right path. The false prophets were trying to get the people to resist God’s disciplining hand but Jeremiah brought these and other reassuring words from the Lord that if they would surrender to God’s plan which was good they would regain hope and would prosper. And they did! In the land of exile they were finally freed from their idolatrous ways and they multiplied in numbers and saw God’s hand of protection over them. In fact, they did so well that not all surrendered to the next stage of God’s plan for them to return to their own land at the appointed time. Those who did return had to be strongly exhorted to continue the rebuilding.
Surrendering to God’s plan is always the right course in every situation. My experience in life has borne this out time and again. It is in surrendering to God’s plan that fruit is produced that will last for all eternity. God’s desire is to expand His kingdom—His influence—through you and me. He can’t do this without the surrender of your will. He can move on to someone else who will surrender. But you will lose out in the blessing He intended for you and others through you.
The biggest resistance to God’s will that I had to overcome was my resistance to being ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church. Once I surrendered, the course of my life was radically altered. God’s plans turned out to be so much better and so much harder than mine. When I look back over my life I can see how much God accomplished in spite of all my inadequacies, failings and sins just because I was willing to surrender to His plans. The same is true for you.
Sometimes it’s a matter of continuing to do just what you are doing. Sometimes there is a shift in what you are to be doing. Always there is the issue of waiting for God’s timing and neither lagging behind or racing ahead. Trust that God’s plans really are good and are the way to true and lasting hope. God brings forth His fruit in and through us as we surrender to His plans in all our plans—large and small.
I’m reminded again of a line from the hymn “God moves in a mysterious way”: “His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower.” (You can hear the whole song at my blog posting from December 2, 2010 entitled “Trust in the Lord”.) Surrendering may seem painful but it will produce much good and enduring fruit and God’s good plans will unfold.
In this Epiphany season of God’s love, may you surrender to and know God’s good plans.
Greg
(The picture at the top is of an almond tree in blossom. See Jeremiah 1:11-12 where the Hebrew word for watching sounds like the word for almond tree.)
