‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’
Background
Jeremiah was a prophet God communicated through to Israel about their wayward ways. He is sometimes called the weeping prophet because the message he was to deliver is one of tough love. If you read the word picture on our website of the 6-year-old, you will be reminded that tough love is sometimes the most loving thing a parent can give to their child. Paul stated a similar thing in his talk to the people are Corinth when he told them that he rejoiced, not because they were grieved, but because they were grieved into repenting. When we experience enough grief to change bad behaviors, our pain leads to long term good.
Jeremiah was letting Israel (specifically Judah) know that because they were unwilling to change their ways, He was going to send them into exile in Babylon. Instead of repenting, they persecuted Jeremiah and God sent them into exile. But God’s loving plan was to use that exile to purify them before their return which happened in 538 BC.
What it meant to the original audience
The message was a call to repent and return to the loving and wise God that had taken such good care of them when they trusted Him. But they hardened their hearts and were sent into exile. There was no joy in the situation except a promise that God would rescue them after the tough love lesson was complete.
For us today
Israel went through the cycle many times of rejecting God’s outreached arm, experiencing consequences and eventually being pulled back in after a change of heart towards their loving and wise Heavenly Father. Israel is a picture of our own lives. We allow distractions and sins to pull us away from leaning on God for truth, direction, power and purpose. God lets us experience the consequences of that and encourages us to come back to His love and wisdom. When we do, we wonder how we could have ever strayed…
God, our loving and wise parent, has good plans for us. But it is up to us to listen, trust and follow.