God's Good Plans

Read Jeremiah 24:1-10, 27-29
 
Jeremiah 24:1b-3, 5-7 The LORD gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the LORD’s Temple in Jerusalem. 2 One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with bad figs that were too rotten to eat. 3 Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat…5 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians. 6 I will watch over and care for them, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them hearts that recognize me as the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.”
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Jeremiah 29:10-11 This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
 
THIS second Scripture may be among the Bible’s most quoted passages. When we are surrounded with trouble and cannot see our way forward, it is good to remember the Sovereign God has good – godly – plans for us.
   The fig illustration is certainly less known, but it bears the same impact. Think of how encouraging the first exiles to Babylon would have been to know God had chosen them to be “good figs”! They hear God’s assurance he will watch over and care for them. The LORD says he will bring them back here again. Then take special note of this: God will plant the Jews in a secure life with him while they are in exile! Surely, that is his promise for us now as we await our heavenly home.
   God’s plan is to bring them home after 70 years. This timeframe means some hearing God’s plans will die before the return. But still this gives a sure hope for grandparents and parents for the next generations. What joy we have when our children are destined for God’s kingdom!
   But, the good fig illustration and the good plan assurance is not God’s promise for every Jew. He has plans to punish and destroy the wicked Zedekiah, false prophets and corrupt priests – all who reject the LORD’s word. In chapters 24 and 29, “bad figs” illustrate the rotten taste that sin is to the holy God.
   God’s plans to save us, not to harm us are very clearly stated throughout the Bible. Remember God’s incomparable plan. The Father “harmed” the Son, so you would have a hope and a future in his plan of salvation. His plans, too, include our faithful response to his will. Thank God for his salvation plan to bring you out of sin’s exile into his good kingdom bounty.