An Expected End

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God spoke these words to the Jewish people during their captivity in Babylon. They were discouraged and wondering if they ever would be free to worship God as they once had. So God spoke to them, effectively saying, “I have a future for you.” That word “future” could be translated, “an expected end,” or “a ground of hope.”

Certainly we can apply this verse in principle to our own lives. God knows what we are going through right now, and He is thinking about us. Now if that verse simply said, “I know the single thought that I once had toward you,” I would be happy with that. Just knowing that the Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe, actually thought even for a moment about me would be enough.

But that is not what this verse says. Rather, God says, “I know the thoughts that I think. . . .” So God’s thoughts toward us are past, present, and future. How many thoughts would that be? Well, how high can you count? Psalm 40:5 says, “Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” His thoughts toward us are innumerable, and they are good.

You are a work in progress, and God is not done yet. There is going to be an outcome. There is going to be completion. And when life is a mess and you can’t sort it all out, God will pull it all together. He will work it all together for good.