Carried you into exile

Friends,
Jeremiah 29:11-14 are verses the Lord gave me a few years ago. These are the kind of verses you underline and highlight in pink. They held the first promises I'd ever realized He had for me. At the time I was just discovering how He loves me and starting to search for His love and promises in the scriptures. As I read these verses today I realize I missed the point.

"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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

Beginning at the end - though he may not have purposed my exile, "he carried me into exile". He was always with me even when I couldn't see or feel Him. He wasn't next to me, he wasn't just in the room. He carried me in His loving strong arms when I couldn't carry myself and probably didn't want to go.
At first, I thought verse 11 should have been after verse 14. Shouldn't I be in exile and then hear of how he has plans for me that will prosper me and not harm me? But then it occurred to me the Lord doesn't make mistakes and maybe the reason verse 11 comes first is to give us hope as He knows the exile is coming. And possibly to comfort me with knowledge that He has a plan for me whatever the circumstances. Hope and security before the exile. Oh, yes, still hope during. A promise to take with me.

My thoughts now think of these verses in Matthew:

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". Matthew 6:33-34

One more thing strikes me in these verses back in Jeremiah and this is the Lord's certainty that I "will call upon Him and come and pray to Him". He knows this desire in my heart and He tells me with assurity that I will call, come, and pray. I have in essence an invitation from Him. But the best part - "He will listen". When I seek Him with all my heart - He will be found by me. He's not playing with me, He is making Himself wholly available to me.
Warning - this post becomes sappy now...but this is my thought when I read this part of the scripture.
I picture the one I've looked for all of my life. The one I've sought and hoped for. The one when our eyes meet and I've found him, he's waiting to carry me off and have plans with me and not harm me. The one who goes with me into exile and is the one who gathers me. The one I spend my life journey. But this is so much more - this is my savior not an ordinary human being. This one loves me with no uncertainty. He not only goes on this journey of life with me, he promises everlasting life.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness," Jeremiah 31:3

Wherever you are today - being carried into exile, in exile, or realizing the promise of the plans He has for you...keep remembering to seek Him with your whole heart as He is with you and He loves you best.

Lovingly,
DIG, Discovering Intimacy with God