And here is my transcript version:
Jeremiah 29:11-1311 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
But even with this promise I am still human I still worry and I still have fears. But Saturday I laughed at how amazing God can be with his little reminders that his plans for us are good and are to give us hope and a future.
So here is a little bit more about the milk story. When I lived in America I drank a lot of milk. But since I have been here I barely drink it at all and the last few weeks I have wanted some but just never bought any, I wouldn’t think of it when I was at the store usually or I would get a coke because I know how to say coke in Ukrainian. But Friday night Illya asked me to bring some milk home. I can buy stuff in the store and its usually not that difficult I just point a lot, so I walked in and I asked for some milk and pointed at the bigger bottle cause I knew I really wanted some and then later found out it was Kafir. So for a few weeks I had wanted milk and still had not had any and just as I mentioned it I was given milk!
To me that milk was a desire of my heart, but it was something very small that I just didn’t ask for and the moment I asked for it, it was given to me. I am not saying that every little thing you ask for God will give you but he knows what you truly desire and he knows what is good for you and what will give you hope. That small glass of milk was hope for me that if I desire something so small for such a short amount of time and am blessed with it how much more will I be blessed when God delivers the true desire of my heart.
We can not desire what is outside of God though. We can not think that just because we want it really bad it will be given to us. If we think that then we are ignoring half of both of the passages. In Jeremiah it says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Psalms say first “Take delight in the LORD,” then it says we will get the desires of our heart.
When we seek the Lord, when we earnestly search for him we will find him. That is what we are promised. It is only once we search for him and find him that we can delight in him, and when we delight in him our desires will be for things that are of him and pleasing to him. Its like walking in the sand, at first Jesus is standing there waiting on you to find him. Our foot prints are all over the place, you walk this way then turn around and walk that way, maybe even do a dance that makes no since. Then as we find God and we walk with him our steps are in order with his our foot prints go right along side of his and when you dance your dance makes since, when he chooses to go down a path we go with him because we want to not because we have too. What happens at this point is that what we really desire falls into line with what God wants. We are delighted to be with him.
I am sure many of you have heard this text before, and I might not be telling you anything new tonight but I do want to give you my thoughts because it is something God has been laying on my heart.
Before I get started though there is a quote that I read one time and I use it often when planning things, “If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans”. This applies to me preparing for tonight. I am a very energetic person usually and my mind is always very scattered. That was no different when I was trying to plan for tonight. I started off thinking I was going to use this passage, but I kept jumping away from it to other passages and topics, but every time I did I heard God laugh. The first time I wandered form this passage I started looking at a passage in the book of Acts, then I was on facebook and one of my friends posted Jeremiah 29:11-13 as their status so I started looking at it again and started to write something down but was going in a completely different direction with it. But soon I had changed my plans and was looking at writing about making a joyful noise, and as I was searching for the passage I accidentally came back to Jeremiah 29:11-13. And then again my mind started to wander this time to uncertainty about what I would preach on, I had no ideas. Then Saturday I was at Kings Cross in Oshan and made a very small statement “I really just want a drink of milk” and as I turned around after saying that there was a milk sample table and it felt like God had set it down as I said those words! That really got me thinking about Gods plans for us. That night as I was talking to my friend from America on skype someone posted Jeremiah 29:11-13 on her facebook wall and I knew that I was not getting away from this passage and that I was suppose to talk about it tonight.
I am going to tell you something a little personal about myself, my greatest desire is to have a family, a beautiful wife, energetic loving kids (that hopefully aren’t like me), a house, you know the kind of family you carry pictures of and show off to everyone. My biggest fear though is that I will never have that. But I really hold close to one verse when I think of this, its Psalms 37:4 “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”But even with this promise I am still human I still worry and I still have fears. But Saturday I laughed at how amazing God can be with his little reminders that his plans for us are good and are to give us hope and a future.
So here is a little bit more about the milk story. When I lived in America I drank a lot of milk. But since I have been here I barely drink it at all and the last few weeks I have wanted some but just never bought any, I wouldn’t think of it when I was at the store usually or I would get a coke because I know how to say coke in Ukrainian. But Friday night Illya asked me to bring some milk home. I can buy stuff in the store and its usually not that difficult I just point a lot, so I walked in and I asked for some milk and pointed at the bigger bottle cause I knew I really wanted some and then later found out it was Kafir. So for a few weeks I had wanted milk and still had not had any and just as I mentioned it I was given milk!
To me that milk was a desire of my heart, but it was something very small that I just didn’t ask for and the moment I asked for it, it was given to me. I am not saying that every little thing you ask for God will give you but he knows what you truly desire and he knows what is good for you and what will give you hope. That small glass of milk was hope for me that if I desire something so small for such a short amount of time and am blessed with it how much more will I be blessed when God delivers the true desire of my heart.
We can not desire what is outside of God though. We can not think that just because we want it really bad it will be given to us. If we think that then we are ignoring half of both of the passages. In Jeremiah it says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Psalms say first “Take delight in the LORD,” then it says we will get the desires of our heart.
When we seek the Lord, when we earnestly search for him we will find him. That is what we are promised. It is only once we search for him and find him that we can delight in him, and when we delight in him our desires will be for things that are of him and pleasing to him. Its like walking in the sand, at first Jesus is standing there waiting on you to find him. Our foot prints are all over the place, you walk this way then turn around and walk that way, maybe even do a dance that makes no since. Then as we find God and we walk with him our steps are in order with his our foot prints go right along side of his and when you dance your dance makes since, when he chooses to go down a path we go with him because we want to not because we have too. What happens at this point is that what we really desire falls into line with what God wants. We are delighted to be with him.
This doesn’t make it wrong to want a house, a job, or a family, or that it is wrong to desire things for ourselves, but what we need to not forget is that God has plans for us that are not to harm us but to give us hope and a future. If you desire a family God may give it to you, but that doesn’t mean you will marry the person you are with or that you won’t adopt children. If you desire a job it might not be the one you have picked out for yourself that you receive but one that will be better for you inside of Gods plan. When the Jewish people were wandering the desert they wanted food and God gave them manna from heaven. They desired food and he gave them food, but not enough to keep for long times he provided it daily.
Often times we are selfish people thinking of only what we want and that we want it now, and not thinking of how that will affect our future or other people. but when we delight in the Lord and allow him to work his plans and stop laughing at ours. Our future will be filled with much more hope and much more meaning. So as we sing and pray think about what plans you have, ask yourself if this is what God wants for you, or is he laughing because he knows there is something better for you.
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