For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. Sermons
I. THE MIND OF GOD IS A PROFOUND MYSTERY TO US, BUT HE KNOWS HIS OWN COUNSELS. 1. God has his "thoughts," even as we have ours. We believe in a God who is no mere philosophic abstraction, but a living, personal being, of whose infinite intelligence ours is but the dim and distant reflection. 2. His thoughts are immeasurably higher than ours. "As the heavens are higher than the earth," etc. (Isaiah 55:9). We cannot solve the mystery or trace the course of our own mental processes, and how should we be able to comprehend his? Our minds, with all their utmost range and activity, move but upon the outskirts of the glorious realm of the infinite and eternal thought of God. 3. His thoughts are all conformed to the eternal truth of things. Indeed, they are themselves the eternal truth of things. For what are all created existences - material and spiritual, all laws, forces, etc., but embodiments and reflections of the "thoughts of God? And whatever his purposes maybe they are not variable; they partake of the immutability of his essential nature. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11). II. GOD'S WAYS OF DEALING WITH US ARE OFTEN PERPLEXING, BUT A GRACIOUS PURPOSE GOVERNS ALL. "Thoughts of peace and not of evil." He concealed within his darkest providences. 1. The constitution of the universe, in spite of all its discords, bears abundant witness to the benign spirit that inspires it. We have no sympathy with that gloomy and morbid view of it according to which, for aught that appears, it might have been fashioned by some spirit of cruelty and hate. True as it may be that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together," there is proof enough that "God's tender mercies are over all his works." 2. The Bible has its anomalies, but it is the unfolding of a redemptive purpose. The revelation of God's mercy towards a guilty, ruined world in the person of the Christ is the key to all its historic dispensations. As every chastisement inflicted on the Jewish people had some gracious design in it as regards themselves, so the whole course of their national life and ecclesiastical polity played its part in the development of that world-wide plan. And through all the changes and storms and conflicts that may yet be in store for the Church and the world, Scripture keeps alive the blessed hope of the future. The prophetic word is "as a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts" (2 Peter 1:19). 3. The saddest experiences in our personal life have their beneficent Divine intent. Every cloud has its "silver lining." Our keenest sorrows often prove to be "celestial benedictions in a dark disguise." God's "thought of peace" is at the heart of all our earthly tribulations (Hebrews 12:6-11). III. THE ISSUE ALWAYS JUSTIFIES GOD'S THOUGHTS AND WAYS. The "expected end," when it comes, never fails to solve the mystery of the path that led to it. The gracious purpose, hidden in the secrecy of the Eternal Mind, veiled under many forms of dark disguise, is then made manifest. God is his own Interpreter, and the day of his glorious self-vindication will surely come. "His ways are love - though they transcend II. THE PARTICULAR PROVIDENCE OF GOD, APPEARING ON THEIR BEHALF UNDER ALL THEIR CALAMITIES, WAS A SOURCE OF CONSOLATION. 1. He is the Lord of hosts, of all the armies above and below, and yet is the God of Israel; and though He permits their captivity, He does not break His relation to them — their covenant-God still, though under a cloud. 2. He assumes the active agency in their dispersion. "I have caused them to be carried away." Certainly it must be a great sin which induces a loving father to cast his child out of doors. But sin is a great scatterer, and is always followed by a driving away and a casting out. Yet the fact of God's being the agent in their dispersion is referred to as a ground of consolation; since it reconciles us to our troubles to see the hand of God in them, and to trace an all-gracious and merciful design in them. III. THE PROMISE OF THE STABILITY AND SECURITY OF THEIR SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC INTERESTS WAS GIVEN. IV. THE PROSPECT OF A CERTAIN AND FAVOURABLE ISSUE TO THEIR TRIALS (ver. 11). (S. Thodey.) People Ahab, Anathoth, David, Elasah, Eleasah, Gemariah, Hilkiah, Jeconiah, Jehoiada, Jeremiah, Kolaiah, Maaseiah, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, Shaphan, Shemaiah, Zedekiah, ZephaniahPlaces Anathoth, Babylon, Jerusalem, NehelamTopics Affirmation, Calamity, Conscious, Declares, Evil, Expected, Future, Harm, Hope, Latter, Peace, Plans, Posterity, Prosper, Says, Thinking, Thoughts, Towards, WelfareOutline 1. Jeremiah sends a letter to the captives in Babylon to be quiet there,8. and not to believe the dreams of their prophets; 10. and that they shall return with grace after seventy years. 15. He foretells the destruction of the rest for their disobedience. 20. He shows the fearful end of Ahab and Zedekiah, two false prophets. 24. Shemaiah writes a letter against Jeremiah. 30. Jeremiah foretells his doom. Dictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 29:11 1115 God, purpose of 5704 inheritance, material Library Finding GodYe shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.' (Jeremiah xxix. 13.) The words of Jeremiah in their relation to God are very appropriate for men and women in whose hearts there is any longing after personal Holiness. Look at them: 'Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart'. I like this word, because it turns our minds to the true and only source of light and life and power. We speak of seeking and getting the blessing; but, … T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service The Secret of Effectual Prayer The Spirit of Prayer. The Costliness of Prayer Putting God to Work The Iranian Conquest The Seventh Commandment I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding Also- Jeremiah Links Jeremiah 29:11 NIVJeremiah 29:11 NLT Jeremiah 29:11 ESV Jeremiah 29:11 NASB Jeremiah 29:11 KJV Jeremiah 29:11 Bible Apps Jeremiah 29:11 Parallel Jeremiah 29:11 Biblia Paralela Jeremiah 29:11 Chinese Bible Jeremiah 29:11 French Bible Jeremiah 29:11 German Bible Jeremiah 29:11 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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