Daily Devotion (December 31, 2024)
Jeremiah 29:11-13 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. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
The old year is gone…the new is approaching. How do we plan for the new year?
God has a plan and purpose for our lives in 2025. We must call upon God and listen to Him. God promises us when we call upon Him, He will listen to us. There is a condition attached to this. We must search for God with all our heart.
What God has planned for us must supersede any plan we have for ourselves. God promises to not only listen to us but to give us a future and a hope. Edward Mote wrote these words, “My hope is found in nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
For many the hope of this world brought despair and emptiness. People followed their own plans and carried out their purpose. God was left out of the plans of many. Jeremiah 29 gives us hope. I have a wife who tells me she knows me like a book. There is one who does truly know me like a book, Jesus Christ. Not only does he know me like a book He has a plan and a purpose for my life.
There is encouragement in knowing God knows us. God knows every detail of our lives. For the Christian this should bring hope and reassurance. For the one who has turned his back on God and lives his life for selfish pursuit there is an emptiness in their soul. The psalmist writes in Psalm 139:1-2, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” The hope of these verses reminds us that we are never alone and that we are extremely known and loved by God. Yes, there is one who does “know us like a book.”
We cannot change what took place in 2024, but we can pursue 2025 with hope and promise that God is walking with us in 2025. Our goal should be to seek God with all our heart. His promise to us is when we do seek Him with all our heart we will find Him.