What God Has Planned for this New Year
Jeremiah 29:11
“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.”
This passage was written by Jeremiah to the children of Israel in exile; they had sinned greatly and repetitively. Understand the context of this passage; it was written at a time in the beginning of the exile in Babylon. It was written specifically to these exiles to give them hope for their future.
To apply this to us today, God does have specific plans for you and me. He provides the hope, even when we cannot see the hope.
This New Year starts tomorrow. What will it hold for you and me? For our family specifically, God wants to do new things in our lives. He is going to do new things that will make us stronger, wiser, more adaptable to His Spirit. He has new things for our children and grandchildren, He has new things for our extended family. Some of what I see in my spirit is going to take patience and endurance, but even in those situations, we will learn, we will survive, we will get through them, if we keep ahold of God’s hand.
We have no idea what God has for us in the new year, but I trust Him. He will give us the strength to handle anything. In this passage it says that God has plans for us. Those plans will not be laid out for is in order and given to us in advance. Trusting God means that we trust Him to guide us through any situation, leaning on Him. Trusting God means that we know that He knows what is best.
In this new year, there will be some great times and some tough times. In Jesus, we can, and will span these tough times, and keep moving forward to the great times.
Prayer:
Lord, You know how we are as humans; we want to know what to expect before anything happens, but that is not always reality. You know we are prone to worry, prone to do things on our own, and our own way. When You came to earth, You were able to overcome human tendencies. Help us to overcome our tendencies to do things our way and on our own. Teach us to be able to say, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” In Your name Lord Jesus we ask, Amen!