Jeremiah 29:11-13,  “For I know what plans I have in mind for you,” says ADONAI, ”plans for well-being, not for bad things; so that you can have hope and a future.  When you call to me and pray to me, I will listen to you.  When you seek me, you will find me, provided you seek for me wholeheartedly; and I will let you find me,” says ADONAI.

Today I wanted to use those verses read from my Jewish Study Bible because I love the way it is worded by the Messianic Jewish Rabbis in order to put in the Jewish perspective of the translation from Hebrew and Greek.  

I know it doesn’t read much differently than any other translation here, and yet there are some subtle differences.  It doesn’t say here ~ “then you will call on me”, it says “when you call to me and pray to me, I will listen to you.”  I know there are times when you pray and you don’t feel as though God is hearing you and you certainly don’t seem to be seeing an answer the way or in the timing, you thought you would, but His plan requires trust.  Trust that He is working even when you can’t see it.  Trusting His heart and the fact that He has already told you that He has a plan and it’s a great plan.  That doesn’t mean that you will never go through tough times and heartaches but it means that when you trust Him and you walk with Him you can know that He is working, and He has a plan.  You need to take your hands off and stop trying to figure it all out yourself.  Don’t get in the way of what He is doing.  He is always doing something.  God does not sleep, He is not tired or surprised by anything so just stop for a while and “Be still”.  Allow Him to do what He has said He will do!  Don’t run around frantically trying to find your answer, sit your bum down and allow His peace to comfort you and guide you.  When He needs you to do something you will know, but you can’t have God’s plan or His best if you keep getting in the way.  If you are like me, it’s pretty difficult to not try to get your hands in and fix it, but there are times to fix and it will be clear that that is the case, and there are times to just wait on Him until He shows you what to do.  Don’t get ahead of Him.  Trust that He is putting people in place and He will provide all that you need.  

God is always good and He loves you and He sees everything that is going on, and He cares.  If you want His plan and His best then you must trust Him, and allow Him to work it out, both in and through you.  God will not force you to listen and He will not force His plan on you, you must choose to let go of your agenda and trust Him to do what is best.  We are so used to quick everything these days that we have become impatient and we expect God to move in our timing but His plans are much bigger and for your good.  It takes time because there are so many factors.  He is not just working on that struggle in front of you, He wants to work in you so you can become all He created you to be and that won’t happen overnight and it rarely happens on those mountaintops.  Allow Him to work it out in and through you.  Seek Him wholeheartedly and He will allow you to find Him and then you will know because everything within you will tell you that truly His best is yet to come!

Quote:  “It’s in the struggle itself that you define yourself.”  ~ Pat Buchanan