Yah's Plans (Jer 29:11)

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 

saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, 

to give you an expected end. 

(Jeremiah 29:11)

I love this scripture and I quote it often when I am feeling discouraged about the direction my life is going in. Recently however, I decided to re-read the six verses that went before and verse 11 and the 3 verses that followed and this is what it states:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;  Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;
 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
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.
 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.
For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Jeremiah 29:4-14

The entirety of this passage caught my eye is because many times in our journey  in walking with the Most High we find ourselves in "exile" from our normal life (some of my friends call the wilderness) and we cannot figure out why. We pray, fast and do everything in our power to get out but we find ourselves......stuck. Why are we there? Sometimes we are there because of our sin like Israel and it is our chastisement from Yah, sometimes we are there by divine appointment like Joseph in prison, but in both cases, we cannot get out on our own terms because Yah has set the time for our release and until that time comes, we are not getting out!

The children of Israel (from the southern kingdom) had sinned against Yah and broke his commandments and his punishment to them was that they would be in exile in Babylon for 70 years. He warned them not to listen to the false prophets who would try to tell them being in Babylon was not Yah's will for them and to go back to Israel, but Yah declared they would face destruction if they did that because that is what was coming to the Israelites who did not surrender to the Babylonians  and stayed in Israel instead of accepting their position of exile as instructed by Yah through Jeremiah the prophet. The ones who accepted their situation were told to build houses, get married, have children, and seek a peaceful existence for the duration of time they were there which would be 70 years and afterward Yah would hear their supplications and return them back to their homeland.

The reason why I share this is because as aforementioned the "glorious" plans of the Most High for us many times involve sending us to places we do not want to go and/or stay in. It may be a job, a marriage, or a literally a place we are living. He has us there for a season and a purpose but it works into the plan he has for us and if we want his will we have no choice but to surrender and wait, no matter how long it takes.

In much of modern Christianity, there is an instantaneous deliverance from situations like this  being taught and when it does not happen people get angry at Yah and feel as if he failed them. That teaching is misleading and I wish they would stop teaching it!! Don't get me wrong, I would love to be delivered in 5 minutes and never experience pain and hardship but real life does not work that way. In out instant message, reality show world, those religious motivational speeches do not prepare Yah's people for endurance that is very much needed when his deliverance is not immediate. There are times when he does miraculously  deliver us but more times than not he requires us to stay in situations longer than we want to, that is where our faith is sorely tested and there is no "love gift" big enough you can sow into any ministry to manipulate Yah's timing. We have to make the decision DESPITE our feelings to trust him that he does have a good plan  and outcome for us, and he does.


In my own life I worked at a mortgage banking company that turned out to be a job from hell.

My boss had to be satan's wife or sister. About a year into this job, I tried to transfer out and my boss blocked me, I tried to apply for other jobs outside the company ( I got so desperate I even applied for jobs that paid up to 1/3 less than what I was making) but Yah would not let me leave. In the midst of this Yah made it clear to me he had me there for a reason  and I was not getting out until he was done. I was chained to that job for FIVE YEARS. I cried in the shower every morning, I cried on my way to work  and I cried on my way home. The hatred directed at me from this woman could be felt. The environment was truly demonically charged and it was difficult to be there. The lesson he was trying to teach me was not to run by quitting when the going got rough. I had to take a hard stand against my boss and her wickedness as a servant of the Most High. I stayed on my knees, I had to, in order to survive. When I learned the lesson I needed to learn, Yah let me know my time to go was near and when it was time for me to leave the company, a recruiter from another company offered me a position with his company without me having to apply. When Yah was done with me there, he made all the arrangements for may departure.

When Joseph  was in prison on a phony rape charge. He met a servant of the Pharaoh whose dream he interpreted. He asked the servant to remember him when he was released and the servant forgot him and he was stuck there for another 2 years, until Pharaoh  had a dream and the servant remembered him and he was brought out of prison. Joseph desperately tried to get out of a horrible situation but Yah did not allow it because the set time of his release was not yet. The plans Yah had for him required he STAY PUT so he could promote him to the Prime Minister of Egypt. If Joseph had got out 2 years prior, he probably would have tried to head back home and his role in saving his family would have not come to pass.

This takes me back to the passage about Yah's plans (thoughts). The Most High made it clear to the children of Israel how long they would be  in exile which was 70 years, he would not hear their prayers about this matter until that time had been fulfilled and after that, he said he would hear them and bring them back into the land the exile was apart of the 'good" plan he had in mind for them.  The same goes with us, no matter how much we pray, fast, or cry out to get out of a place Yah has put us in we will not be released until it is time and when we are certain that Yah has us there, we have to be careful not to let well meaning friends and loved ones (our "prophets") tell us that  this cannot be Yah's will for us because even though they are doing it from a place of love and concern for our well being, they are going against Yah's plans. Y'shua (Jesus) had to rebuke Peter when he stated he had to be betrayed and crucified and Peter rejected what he said. When I was in that 5 year job hell, friends who knew the hell I was going through wanted to help me "escape" and would send me ads for jobs which I was tempted to apply for but did not even bother to because Yah had made it clear he was not letting me out any time soon in that season.


I would love to say that the job ordeal is the only "exile" experience I have had in my life time, it is not, I have had many others and in fact I am going through one right now and it is a very hard place to be in. I have prayed, fasted, called friends to pray to no avail, Yah has not released me. This exile has been harder than any other I have gone through in times past and has sorely tried my faith, but I have been through these exile experiences enough to know I will not be getting out until his set time, then he will be entreated by me.  So all that I say to you I say from a place of  personal experience  and I assure you none of us escape this. NOTE, this only applies to situations  where Yah has made it clear that he has positioned you there and you have to stay put, this is not for situations that are harmful and abusive where you have the freedom to leave. Contrary to foolish teachings in christianity,  while he does place us in difficult situations for his purposes Yah does not call us to lay our life down and be mistreated in every circumstance we encounter, we have to pray and discern.

I do not say this to be a kill joy regarding verse 11, but I would be doing you a dis-service if I did not address that we have to see the entire context of his statement.  From Israel's viewpoint (and ours) the plan did not look like a good one; exile, away from their home and everything they knew? How was that a good thing? that is why he told them in verse 11 AFTER he listed what he required of them while they were in exile that his plans were to give them a good end even if it did not look like it at the moment. We have to see the same for our lives, for many of Yah's  people they are going through some hard places and Yah has not released them. It seems more like a cruelty than a kindness, but the Most High is at work and we are submitted and surrendered to him he will work it out for us. If we we rebel against him, destruction will be what we receive.  Read the verses addressed at the Israelites who decided to stay in Israel at the word of the false prophets, they were not safe, destruction was coming their way. I say this as a warning, accept your exile (job, marriage, place, etc), Yah will provide for you in your place of exile and he will bring you out at the right time but you  will not be safe in the place he has not designated this goes for all of us, do not rebel, his outcome for us is good IF we cooperate with him.


There were more details in those plans than we want to see, that will take us places we may not want to go, but if we stay put (in the place, job, marriage, etc.) and obey his  instructions, the end result will be the "expected" end he promised and we can only hope it will not take 70 years :)