Jeremiah 29:8-13 For thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the middle of you, deceive you… I. GOD THINKS OF HIS PEOPLE. That seems a very simple thing to say, does it not? It is as sublime as it is simple! God thinks of His people. Though so occupied — I had almost said, "though so busy," — God finds time and opportunity to give thought to His children. He numbers the hairs of our head; He knows every inch of our path; our sorrows and our joys are all calculated and catalogued by Him. He knows our uprising and our downsitting, our going out and our coming in. What is there of which He has not perfect cognisance? What is there in which He is not interested? Oh, wonder of wonders, that this busy God of ours knows us, loves us, cares for us, enters into the petty details of our fleeting life, and counts no grief too slight for us to take to Him in prayer. The current of His thoughts sets our way. Like a great warm gaff-stream, the loving thoughts of God lave the shores of every believing soul, and bring life and verdure to the full, by means of their helpful influences. 1. This is the more wonderful, when we remember how sinful we are. He sees and knows all about you, and you He loveth still. 2. I learn hence, also, that God thinks very definitely and deliberately about His people. 3. Best of all is it He thinks so tenderly about us. "Thoughts of peace." It is He who has made peace possible 'twixt God and man, for He longs to have us reconciled to Him. It is Jesus who has made peace by the death of His Cross. It is the Holy Ghost who speaks peace to troubled hearts and consciences. It is His kind providence that keeps us in perfect peace, our minds being stayed on Him. II. GOD'S THOUGHTS CONCERNING HIS PEOPLE ARE OFTEN OF A PRIVATE NATURE. The emphasis of this verse should come upon the personal pronoun. "I know the thoughts that I think towards you." They are hidden from you. "My way," says God, "is not yet discovered." My purposes remain unrevealed. None can know perfectly the mind and will of God. How can we reach to such an awful height? How can we plunge into such abysmal depths? 1. Let the fact that God Knows His thoughts satisfy our curiosity. It is childish in the extreme to lift the plant that has been lately put into the ground, and it will fail to grow if treated thus. It is childish — is it not? — to break the drum-bead, in order to discover whence the music comes. But we are not less childish who want to know what God has not revealed, and who are not content to do His bidding without saying, "But why?" The why and the wherefore may not concern us. But the duty does concern us. Let us hasten in the way of His commandment. 2. This, also, should calm our restlessness. Let the spirit of patience possess you. Wait, wait, wait, till God sees fit to bless. 3. Meanwhile, let there be no distrust. It is fear that misconstrues the purposes of God. It is unbelief that misinterprets the words and ways of Jehovah. Even when things appear to be against us, let us trust and not be afraid. III. WHEN GOD THINKS, HE THINKS TO PURPOSE. "To give you an expected end." God always works to an end, and with a motive. Here He speaks about the people's dreams. They were mere dreams — "the baseless fabric of a vision." But God has no dreams. His thoughts are honest, earnest, fruitful, resultful. Moreover, His works ever agree with the thoughts from which they spring. God does not leave His people to haphazard, nor does He do anything by halves. Trust Him in all His works and ways, and you will see that "as for God, His way is perfect." When He sets Himself to make a world, He rests not till He has made it perfectly, and can pronounce it good. When He sets Himself to destroy sinful men, He makes a clean sweep of them, whether it be with flood or flame. And when He comes from heaven to redeem a sinful race of men, His tears do not stop, nor does His blood cease flowing, till He can cry, "It is finished." (Thomas Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. |
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