The LORD plans & sends & restores those who are HIS
- The last day of school has arrived!
- Graduations have happened.
- Teachers are packing up supplies, organizing classrooms, and rejoicing, thankful for a summer break.
Thus, as we step toward summertime, we often begin to think about summer holidays, of places we wish to go, of things we want to do, and of people we hope to hug. Maybe we look at our calendars, pondering which week(s) would be best for our time away from work. We talk with our employer, discuss plans with family members, and contemplate the possibility that just maybe there will be time to play—rather than work for a few summer days.
Sometimes we feel as if we need to allow more time for play than we do, as we did when we were children. As adults, we work and toil for many months filled with weeks full of labor. However, as children, we played, concentrating on our play, not our work.
Those were the days!
As grown-ups, maybe we allow ourselves to become more child-like, giving ourselves permission to just do nothing. Instead of ‘to-do’ lists, we make ‘not-to-do’ lists, allowing time to unfold from daybreak to dusk, soaking up as much of our ‘playdays’ as we possibly can. The Holy Scripture are ever-clear in this truth:
God designed us to walk with Him!
In creating us, He numbered our days (our time here on earth). We know because the Bible says so.
“Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
(The Psalms 139: 16 NAS)
[wrote David in one of his psalms of praise]
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.”
- Some of our days must be days of work &
- Some of our days need to be days to romp and play!
- Some of our weeks must be filled with toil &
- Some of our weeks need to be lived just for the sake of fun!
- Because some of our time here on earth (that God has ordained for us) ought to be lived for the adventures we can take, followed by the toil we can do with our hands.
When the children of Israel were exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon, quite probably they thought their lives were over. Hard labor, slavery, and oppression were their future. In the moments, days, weeks, months, and years of their captivity, maybe they struggled to remember that it was because of their sinful ways that caused the LORD to allow them to suffer in such a way. However even though they were forced to walk through a time of punishment, through days of living out the consequences for their sin, STILL, THE LORD PLANNED & CARED FOR THEM.
We know this because God used His prophet Jeremiah to send a written letter of vision and encouragement to the exiles. Jeremiah carefully shared the LORD’S word with the children of Israel.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,
(The Book of Jeremiah 29: 4-7 NAS)
to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
‘Build houses and live in them;
and plant gardens and eat their produce.
Take wives and become fathers of sons and daughters,
and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands,
that they may bear sons and daughters;
and multiply there and do not decrease.
Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile,
and pray to the LORD on its behalf;
for in its welfare you will have welfare.’ “
Do we see the LORD’S plan and care?
- The LORD knew where the children of living were taken when they were oppressed.
Do we see how the LORD prepares for their future?
- HE never misplaced or forgot about them.
- The LORD cared that HIS children were living in a faraway land when they were marched into Babylon.
- HE never stopped preparing for their future.
Build. Live. Plant. Eat. Marry & Multiply.
‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf;’
- In doing ALL that the LORD commands, HIS children ‘will have welfare.’
- In doing ALL that the LORD commands, we too (His children) will have the LORD’S provision, care, and future hope.
Truly—God designed us to walk with Him!
When the LORD created us, He numbered our days here on earth. Some of our days require us to work: building, living, planting, eating, and caring for our families. Yet, some of our days can be days to play: romping and just living for fun and adventure. The LORD created both kinds of days for us to live “ordained for [you &] me, [for us] when as yet there was not one of them.”
The Bible tells us the LORD knows the plan HE has for our lives!
“For thus says the LORD,
(The Book of Jeremiah 29: 10-14 NAS)
‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon,
I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you,
to bring you back to this place.’
[The Lord would return His people back to Jerusalem.]
‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD,
‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD,
‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD,
‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’ “
The LORD plans & sends & restores those who are HIS!
The Bible says so.
The LORD disciplines & returns those who are HIS!
The Word of God tells us so.
The LORD creates us & numbers our days here on earth.
The Bible speaks it so.
The LORD never stops preparing for our futures.
The Holy Scripture declares so.
THE LORD PLANS & CARES FOR HIS CHILDREN!
The Bible proves it so.
Truly—God designed us to walk daily with Him—whether we are enjoying days of holiday OR working days of labor.
God’s hand of protection has never left His children, nor will it ever—whether we are working in places that seem foreign to us, exiled to places we never dreamed to live OR living in places where we once always thought we would live.
Wherever we find ourselves, one fact remains true:
The LORD plans & sends & restores—those who are HIS!
Thus, to enjoy the LORD’S plan, provision & restoration—we must belong to HIM.
The Bible declares so.