Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #162. Jeremiah 25–30: What Jeremiah 29:11 Really Means for Christian Moms--Hope, Not Smooth Sailing!

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#162. Jeremiah 25–30: What Jeremiah 29:11 Really Means for Christian Moms--Hope, Not Smooth Sailing! · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

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  This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
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  I'm Stephanie Hickox.
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  As we dig into Jeremiah 25 through 30 I'll share with you why getting ripped off on my honeymoon reminds me of how people misapply God's promise in Jeremiah We'll also ask, does this verse still apply to us today?
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  In chapter 25, we read Jeremiah's 11th message of condemnation to Judah As I read a few verses, I want you to attend to what God asked His people to do.
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  Beginning in verse three: For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but
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  you have not listened.
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  You have neither listened Nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, saying, Turn now every one of you from his evil way and deeds, and dwell upon the land
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  that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands.
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  then I will do you no harm.
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  Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord That you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm And in verse eight, God tells them because they have not obeyed His
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  words, He is sending Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to take them into captivity God was rebuking the people for not listening and obeying His words Listening and obeying is a thoroughly biblical idea.
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  And these portions of scripture where it's repeated over and over are like fuel in my tank for my parenting because I know that's what God requires of believers.
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  It encourages me to continue to have that expectation for my kids, that I would clearly communicate what I expect of them and what God expects, and that I would hold them to that in an age-appropriate, loving way.
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  Back to Jeremiah's message aren't you astonished at the amount of times that God warns them and offers them a chance to repent?
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  And yet he knows what will happen in 25:11, Jeremiah has a mic drop moment.
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  For the first time, he reveals how long they'll be in captivity in Babylon, and I assure you it's not what they wanted to hear 70 years.
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  That's seven zero.
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  It doesn't matter what the life expectancy was.
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  Basically, they're being informed if they went into captivity, they weren't coming back, and their kids may not come back either
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  Steph: their syncretistic worship of Yahweh and other gods
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  Deeply impacted their children and the future generations And chapter 25 concludes with God rebuking the leaders in the temple.
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  They were given a charge to shepherd their flock, and because they did not, their judgment would be severe Jeremiah's 12th message condemning Judah is in chapter 26 Astoundingly, in verse three, God says, "It may be they will listen
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  and everyone turn from his evil way that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds."
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  Thus says the Lord, If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of my servants, the prophets, whom I send to you urgently, though
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  you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth."
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  Did you notice the verb that was said four times in those couple of verses?
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  Listen.
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  God wants His people to listen so they can obey Him.
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  And at this point, He's still willing to relent from His plan Given what we've read so far about the priests of the temple, how do you think they received Jeremiah's message?
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  Sadly, but not surprisingly, they decide he should die for proclaiming that anything negative will happen to Jerusalem.
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  But they're contemplating whether or not God would punish them if they did so And once again, God protects Jeremiah from their evil intentions.
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  it's in this 13th message that God calls Jeremiah to another object lesson.
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  He's to put a yoke on his neck as he preaches A yoke is huge and heavy, But God was ensuring that all people, whether they were visual or auditory learners, had no excuse Once again, he tells them, Allow
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  yourself to be yoked and surrender to the king of Babylon.
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  Don't rebel against him.
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  It will go so much better for you if you submit."
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  he reminds them that if they try to rebel, their destruction is imminent.
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  There's a false prophet named Hananiah Who breaks the yoke off Jeremiah's neck?
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  Jeremiah may have been a little relieved that Hananiah's rebellion removed this heavy yoke from his back But God declares, Go ahead, Hananiah, break this wooden one.
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  I will replace it with iron."
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  And for his bold rebellion to the Lord, he died two months later There were many false prophets arising wanting to give the people peace, but this wasn't helpful because it wasn't requiring them to turn from their wickedness.
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  You can't have the blessing of peace without obedience.
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  Now we come to Jeremiah's 14th message in chapter 29 There are verses that you're sure to know and have likely found encouragement from But we want to be careful about which verses we apply to ourselves as believers today.
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  Remember, scripture only has one proper interpretation.
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  The words of God were written for a specific situation at a specific point in history.
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  But God's word can have many applications.
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  You and I can come to the same verse and find different encouragement and hope for what we're walking through But that doesn't change the context to which it was written in When Nebuchadnezzar brought the people to Babylon, he
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  did it in three waves Already at this point, there were many people from Judah dwelling in Babylon.
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  But there were false prophets saying, "Don't worry, it's gonna be fine.
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  God will help us return home in no time."
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  And Jeremiah writes this letter to them saying, "That's not true.
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  God already told you it would be 70 years of captivity and beginning in verse four, he writes, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem
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  to Babylon: Take wives and have sons and daughters.
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  Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters.
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  Multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you into exile.
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  and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.'
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  For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie
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  that they are prophesying to you in my name.
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  I did not send them,' declares the Lord."
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  For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
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  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.
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  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
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  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes And gather you from all the nations and all the
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  places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile Jeremiah's letter reminds them why the judgment came upon them, because they did not pay
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  attention to God's words.
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  Yet God gives this beautiful message of hope to a people that were not in a hopeful situation.
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  And while He encourages them to faithfulness today, He calls them to walk in long-term hope.
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  They are still God's chosen people, and someday the nation will be brought back.
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  And He's not just going to restore their land.
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  He will do something in their hearts during this captivity Though the people were tempted to put their lives and their families on hold and to wish for the overthrow of Babylon, God wants just the opposite.
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  Remember how the Israelites multiplied rapidly while they were slaves in Egypt?
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  God tells them, "Continue to be fruitful and multiply."
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  and pray for the good of Babylon, because if it's secure, you will be also There are a few reasons we have to be careful in applying these verses to other situations Number one, God is speaking to His people.
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  If someone has not submitted their life to Christ their future looks very different Because God's good for them would be bringing them to the end of themselves, just as we're seeing with Israel and Judah So the audience matters.
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  Next We need to understand that these verses were spoken in a time of true difficulty.
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  You can't claim them and say, "Everything's gonna be all right because God has a good plan for me."
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  These people were going to remain in captivity.
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  They would die in another land, never coming back to their home.
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  They were removed from the temple, and the ways that they were supposed to worship God had been completely cut off I imagine that some of you are in a long season of financial struggle.
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  I want you to imagine that God said to you, On this earth, you will always struggle to make ends meet."
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  And then said, For I know the plans I have for you, for a hope and a future."
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  Some of you battle constant physical pain and discomfort.
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  It may rob your peace and affect the way you're able to mother.
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  If God told you, I'm never going to take your symptoms away, but I know the plans I have for you for welfare and not for evil.
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  What if you're in a difficult relationship And God declares, I'm never going to heal that struggle, but I know the plans I have for you, plans for good."
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  or what if you have an ongoing parenting struggle And God told you, "This child will never become easier to deal with for I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil."
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  When we apply these words of hope while acknowledging the struggle, it's acknowledging that the rain and the storm comes before the rainbow.
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  Our God is a God of hope, but so often it doesn't look like we expect.
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  And if we go around promising people, especially people that don't know the Word of God or the character of God well, and we issue trite platitudes like, "Oh, God just wants to work everything for our good they can
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  be really thrown off when hard things come.
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  and it can make them doubt the goodness of God rather than cling to Him these false promises remind me of a crazy circumstance my husband and I encountered on our honeymoon.
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  He had surprised me with a trip to an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic.
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  We had everything we needed at the resort, but there were a couple excursions we were intrigued by I remember eyeing one brochure that featured a picture of a hammock on an idyllic island.
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  I love hammocks, and I was excited to see this island where part of the Pirates of the Caribbean had been filmed The brochure promised we'd have a peaceful catamaran sail while enjoying tropical beverages.
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  Next, we'd arrive at the island to a delicious buffet and enjoy the hammocks.
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  Then we'd take a speedboat to a sandbar where we'd get pictures with starfish the size of a dinner plate then we'd return back to our resort We signed up and paid.
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  As directed, we were ready to go before 7:00 AM the next morning for our bus to pick us up.
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  Unfortunately, none of the restaurants or snack shops opened before 7:00, so we had to skip breakfast and weren't able to buy any snacks or drinks for the road.
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  After we waited a couple hours without seeing anyone, we were informed that there was a bus strike going on and our bus wouldn't be coming We'd have to come back the next day.
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  Once again, we skipped breakfast, waited in line, not quite as long this time, before being told that the strike was still on, but it was ending, and if we came back the third day, we would certainly be able
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  to go We did so, and thankfully, the buses did show up.
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  When we piled onto the sailboat, we were stuffed like sardines, and instead of being offered something refreshing, a warm two-liter bottle of Coke was presented to share amongst the 40 or so passengers.
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  We chose to stare out at the incredible water and were amazed by the beautiful flying fish After a few hours, we arrived at the island.
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  wondering where the hammocks were, I inquired from the guide, His response was a laugh along with, There's never been a hammock on this island we were famished, so we approached the buffet, which only included small fish that still
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  had the heads on, that barely had any meat on them, and had been burnt to a crisp This did little to satisfy our hunger, And we sat down in the sand in the sweltering heat After a while, we
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  were instructed to pile into a couple of speedboats, eventually arriving at that sandbar.
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  And when we tried to lift these amazing starfish out of the water, we were harshly corrected that we could not do so and could not take a picture with them I didn't realize it at the moment, but sun
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  poisoning was setting in on me I was starving, dehydrated, and sunburnt, and I couldn't wait to get home and into a cozy bed.
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  But next, our speedboat took off, and we were far from land when it completely broke down.
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  Sitting there wondering what to do, we looked up at the sky and saw dark storm clouds rolling in.
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  It wasn't long before rain was pouring down upon us.
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  I didn't bring much that day, but because of those promised hammocks, I had my Bible in my lap, and I recall hovering over it, trying to protect it from the pelting rain it was a considerable amount of time
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  before another boat was able to come back and rescue us, and then we had a very cold, very wet bus ride home.
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  Incredibly, in the midst of all this, my husband and I had the opportunity to share the gospel with a couple behind us.
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  And even though we were elated over that conversation, we were vigilantly watching for when our bus would approach our resort we watched couple after couple exit the bus, and finally, we were the only two that remained.
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  Our tour guide insisted we missed our resort, but we assured him, Oh, no, believe us."
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  We wanted to get off Without a word, our guide left us with a driver that didn't speak English, and he began to drive the bus away from the lights of Punta Cana and into the pitch-black darkness.
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  I think inside, my husband and I both thought we were going to die that night.
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  But praise the Lord, the driver took us to our resort, and we nearly kissed the ground when we stepped off the bus.
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  We were relieved to be back, but the sun poisoning was so bad that I couldn't even go to dinner.
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  I just stayed in bed shivering.
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  So why did I share that long story with you?
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  Because the false promises in that brochure of the hammock on the island with the buffet and the beverages and the smooth sailing remind me a lot of when people take Jeremiah 29:11 out of context.
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  Following God does not guarantee smooth sailing.
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  The Bible actually instructs us the opposite is true.
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  We need to be so careful about the gospel promises that we present, because it can truly set others up for disappointment and discouragement God does have good and a hope and a future planned for His people, but we
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  need to be so careful about the expectations we have of what that would look like God blesses us with great joy, but the hammocks and the smooth sailing are probably not consistently for you on this side of heaven
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  And when you and I go into our daily lives expecting that life can be hard and yet very good, it helps us to walk with God in trust rather than disappointment, striving to become more like Him because that's
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  how He defines good And ultimately, when we picture Jesus Christ on the cross, we're reassured that the principle of Jeremiah 29:11 is true.
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  God does have a good plan for all who call upon Him In the most painful sacrificial death, when it seemed all hope was lost, God was bringing about redemption.
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  Circumstances may not always look like it, but God knows the plans He has.
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  If we trust and honor Him, it will be for our good and not for our harm we'll continue to look at some of these promises because in chapters 30 through 33 God explains what the new covenant will look
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  like.
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  His people have been taken away from the temple, and he continues to lay the groundwork for how his people will worship him Heavenly Father, we are in awe of the patience with which you warned your people.
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  And we acknowledge that you have exhibited that same patience with us.
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  We're convicted of the ways that we seek good and comfort apart from you.
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  We long to be daughters that listen to and obey you, Lord May we be surrendered to the circumstances you've placed us in.
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  Help us to keep our eyes fixed on the cross, where we're reminded of the beauty that you can bring even when all hope seems lost.
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  We pray for the welfare of the nations we live in.
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  And that they would be surrendered to glorifying you.
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  And when they don't, teach us what faithfulness looks like Help us to instruct our kids carefully and to not offer them a false gospel full of earthly promises and prosperity.
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  Instead, guide us in how to teach them of how worthy you are, and that we will never regret serving you We believe our greatest treasure in this life will be dwelling with you and we thank you, Jesus, that
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  you purchased a hope and a good future for us.
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  It's in your name we pray.
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  Amen