Built up and planted

“He (Jeremiah) said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: 'If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.'” Jeremiah 42:9-12

I was really encouraged reading these words this morning. Over the last few weeks or so I have been thinking about moving issues, wondering whether I am in the place where God has placed me in – church wise and job wise. Sometimes when things get difficult you begin to think that you must be in the wrong place precisely because things are so difficult! If you really were where God had placed you then things would progress much more smoothly. Things would just fall into place.

Maybe things get so difficult because the enemy would like to see you anywhere other then where God wants you to be.

Built up and planted are very deliberate actions. You don’t build a wall or plant a garden by accident. God’s actions towards me are not accidental either. They don’t happen just by-the-way.

God is appealing for an act of trust – He will do the building and the planting – if we allow him to. Sometimes we are too quick to build things and plant things that are not on God’s heart for us. When He builds something, He builds it properly and there is no need to tear it down. When He plants it is exactly where he wants it to be, so there is no need to uproot it at a later date.

God building and planting in my life are conditional on the basis that I stay – in His presence, in His purposes, in His Covenant, in Him.