A Sovereign God

Jeremiah 29:11-13

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

 

 

What a clear statement of sovereignity! God told Israel through His prophet about the good times yet to come as well as the bad times they must endure in Babylon. God told them to flourish in captivity, to build houses, plant gardens, and eat the produce. They were not to decrease because when the time was right, God would fufill His promise to them. He would hear their cries, restore their fortunes, and gather them from all nations where He had driven them. He would bring them back to the place where God had sent them into exile. His sending them into exile was just as much His sovereignty as God bringing them back. Sovereignty also has two sides. But whether it is the hard times or the good times, this fact should be comforting. God always has a plan for our lives. He knows our lives and has fashioned them down to the smallest detail. We can trust in God's timing to be exactly right for our lives and our hearts!

 

Jeremiah went on to explain that God would break the yoke from their necks bursting their bonds and changing their status as servants to others to servants to Him. God can just as easily break the power of the enemy as He can prosper their power because the enemy nations are under His control just as Israel was under His control. He told them that He would make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. What was the problem with Israel? Was their more yet to come? Most certainly, He would discipline them in just measure, and He would by no means leave them unpunished. Israel's heart had not turned to Him. Granted they hated their exile, but had it made them love God? They had to realize that all their lovers had forgotten them. And then turn back to God desiring Him and Him alone to be His people and He their God. Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The firece anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the intentions of His mind.

 

Sovereignty is the practical outworking of the intentions of His mind! Sovereignty is His working out every details of my life so that my will will be His will,  my heart His heart, and my actions will be obedient to Him! Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.

 

Father,

I know You are sovereign. Help me to embrace every detail of life as coming from You. Help me see Your hand in all that You have allowed in my life.

In Jesus name,

Amen