Jeremiah 23:9-40; 18:18-20:18; 2 Kings 24:5-9; Jeremiah 22:18-30; Jeremiah 13:15-27; 2 Kings 24:10-17

We spend a lot of time and mental effort trying to devise, modify and carry out plans. Even the scriptures speak to the plans and desires of our hearts. God created us to think, reason, and be passionate about the things we do in life. The spiritually minded, however, take time to ask what God wants.

The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

Jeremiah 23:20

Remember when David wanted to build the temple? Nathan – a prophet – told him to do what his heart desired. God intervened and said He has different plans. David showed great faith and a tremendous respect for God by simply accepting what God said, even though it contradicted his own desires. Further, a “prophet” had told him to go ahead. Anytime someone claims to speak for God, we need to double-check with God. Long after it was over and we could look back, the plans of God made sense. Trusting Him in the present is by faith.

Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.'” For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

Jeremiah 23:16-19

Notice the caution for the “heart” of the prophet and the “heart” of the people. Sometimes the heart of religious people conflicts with the heart of God. That’s why the Bereans were counted as noble (Acts 17:11), because they checked the word of God to see if the “prophets” were teaching the same thing. Sometime the heart-felt plans of people conflicts with the intentions of God’s heart. That’s why we must conform our plans to His plans.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

James 4:13-16

Humble righteousness simply seeks to be in the will of God. There is a rush of liberty and freedom that washes over the believer when we realize we are not burdened with having to fully understand the intentions of God. Walk by faith, not by insistence on controlling everything. One day it will be easily seen. Until then we can live in the relaxing assurance that God is in control.

Consider His nature.  Consider His ways.  Strive to love Him more!