TOKONAKI NOVEMA 18, 2023
I Have Plans for You
‘Oku ‘i ai ‘Eku Palani Ma’au
JEREMIAH 29:10-11
"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. 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."
SELEMAIA 29:10-11
10 He ko e folofola eni ‘a Sihova, Ka kakato leva ma‘a Pāpilone ‘a e fitungofulu‘i ta‘u, te u ‘a‘ahi kiate kimoutolu, pea te u fakaai ‘eku tala‘ofa kiate kimoutolu, ke fakafoki kimoutolu ki he potu ni. 11 He ‘oku ou ‘ilo pē ‘a e ngaahi fakakaukau ‘oku ou fakakaukau kiate kimoutolu–ko Sihova ia mei he Ta‘ehāmai–ko e ngaahi fakakaukau lelei, ‘o ‘ikai sio kovi, ke ‘ange kiate kimoutolu ha ‘amui mo ha ‘amanaki.
God sometimes pulls out the big guns on hardhearted sinners. For Judah that "big gun" was a seventy-year exile. Away from their homes. Away from their land. It was a season for his people to sit with their sin. To repert, pray, and remember who and whose they were. It was God's tough love toward children strung out on the meth of idolatry. But it wasn't forever. The Lord had a machashavah for them - a word that can mean "thought, intention, plan, or invention." God uses machashavah when he says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts" (Isa. 55:8). And the divine thought toward his people was to carry them back home. He had plans for his people's shalom and hope.
As he did for Israel, God has a wonderful plan for our life as well: to crucify and resurrect us with Christ. To fill us with his peace. In Jesus, to fill us with hope for a future of joy with no end.
"You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you!" (Ps. 40:5).
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