What Does God Think About Me

1/30/2024

Have you ever wondered what God thinks about you?  Many times in the past I have wondered about this.  For years, I hoped I was being good enough to get into heaven.

Even after accepting Christ as my Savior, I often wondered.  I knew God the Father loved me.  After all, He sent Jesus, His only Son, to die as a sacrifice for my sins.

But I knew how many times I had blown it.  Failing and falling back into sin for which I had been forgiven.  Sometimes it seemed the harder I tried, the more I failed.  Was I that bad of a Christian?  What must God think about me?

Then one day I stumbled upon a set of verses in Jeremiah.  These verses spoke to my heart so much.  I knew at that moment what God thought of me.  I loved these verses so much that they are written on the inside cover of my Bible.  If I have any doubts about what God thinks about me, I can open the cover of my Bible and see these reassuring words once more.

Some of you might have already guessed what verses I am mentioning.

They are Jeremiah chapter 29, verses 11-14.  I am sharing them from the King James Version of the Bible.

11 ‘’For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.’’

Jeremiah wrote the book of the Bible named after him during the reign of King Josiah and the reign of Josiah’s sons.  This was before Judah was carried away from Israel as captives by Babylon.

The book of Jeremiah is filled with warnings and prophecies from God to the Israelites.  If they continued in the way they were following false gods and not following God, they would be destroyed and led into captivity.

There amid these warnings are the verses from chapter 29.  Even in His anger, God still loved His people, Israel.  He wanted them to know He thought about them and had a way of redemption for them.

What are God’s thoughts towards us?  11 ‘’For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.’’

His thoughts are for our peace. He is not thinking evil about us.  Not only that, but He has a planned end for us.

Some versions use the word plan instead of thoughts.  I like the word thought in these verses better.  Doesn’t that comfort your heart to read, ‘’I know the thoughts I think towards you.’’  First of all, God is thinking about me.  WOW!!!

As a person, I am smaller than an ant in comparison to God’s majesty and grandeur.  Yet, He has thoughts of peace towards and about me.  And He has plans to bring me to His expected end of peace.  Shouldn’t that be enough to make me relax and trust totally in Him?  He knows His whole thoughts and plans for me from beginning to end.  I can only see a little bit of it at a time.  He already has seen the end.

But what if I do stray away from Him?  He has that figured out as well.

Verse 12, ‘’Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.’’

We can call on Him and He will remember us and hear us.  But there is also a condition to this.

Verse 13, ‘’And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.’’

We need to seek after God.  And we WILL find Him.  But it can’t be a half-hearted search.  You will find Him when you search for Him with ALL your heart.

Think of it like this.  If you are at a soda machine and want to buy a soda, you look at the coins in your pocket.  You thought you had the coins needed for a soda but you don’t.  That is just ho-hum searching.  If you have it, great if not, it’s not the end of the world.

Now imagine, you just got handed your paycheck from your employer.  You need the money for your rent this week, your car payment is due, and you need groceries for your family.

You put the paycheck in your pocket and stop at the bank on the way home to deposit the check.  The check is not in your pocket.  You get serious about finding that check, don’t you?  You go through all of your pockets.  You check every inch of the car.  You go back to work and retrace your steps there trying to find the check.

You are searching for that missing paycheck with all of your heart!  You aren’t going to stop until you find it.

That is how God wants us to search for Him.  The more we desire and seek after God, the more He will reveal Himself to us.  God wants to reveal and show Himself to us.  For us to learn more about Him.  So much so, that The Father sent Jesus to become a man.  Knowing our temptations, but also showing us how we can rise above them.

What will happen when we truly seek God with our whole hearts?

Verse 14, ‘’And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.’’

First of all, we WILL find God.  And secondly, He will turn away our captivity.  Jeremiah was writing about the captivity of Israel being carried away to Babylon.  But I see this as the captivity of sin we may find ourselves in.  God will free us from whatever sin we have in our lives.  Lust, drinking, smoking, swearing, porn, drugs, gossip, etc.  God is bigger than all of these.

God is waiting for us to draw close to Him.  As we do, these things will become less important.

You might say, ‘Mike, it says here that God caused us to be carried away captive to sin.  Or what about all the bad things that happen?  I thought God was good, why does He let good people or children be hurt?’

This is a good question.  Whether we understand it or not, God does this for the good of His people.  During Jeremiah’s time, that was the Israelites.  During our time now, it is the Christians and those God is trying to draw to Himself.

God allows things to happen in our lives to draw us to Him.  To show us that we can’t do it all on our own.  If everything is going great in our lives, do we trust and rely on God as much as when things are not going well?  Are we as quick to get on our knees in prayer when the kids are all healthy and doing great as fast as we are to pray when they are sick?

God uses problems in our lives to help us turn to Him and trust Him more.  Some people choose to remain blind and just blame God and turn away from Him.  Some refuse to acknowledge Him and say there is no God.  Others trust in Him and His mercy and get closer to Him.

It kind of reminds me of a story about a barber I heard not that long ago.

A man was getting his hair cut by a barber and they began talking about God.  The barber said he didn’t believe in God.  A good God wouldn’t let people suffer.  He said there are too many suffering people in the world.

The customer pointed to a long-haired homeless man standing outside the barber shop window.  The man getting the haircut from the barber said, ‘’I don’t believe there are barbers.’’

The barber laughed.  ‘’I am cutting your hair.  How can you not believe there are barbers?’’

The customer said, ‘’If there are barbers, why are there people with sloppy long hair?’’

The barber said, ‘’They have to come in to see me.  I can’t help them unless they come to me.’’

The customer smiled, ‘’It is the same way with God.  People need to come to Him for His help.  You just answered your own question about God.’’

What will you do today?  Will you decide to search for God with your whole heart and find Him?  Will you rest in the thought that God has good thoughts about you?  That He has thoughts of bringing you to a peaceful and expected end.

Eternity is your choice.  God DOES NOT send people to hell.  They choose not to follow God and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.  He only honors their wishes not to want to come to heaven to spend eternity with Him.

May you be like Joshua in the Book of Joshua 24:15

15 ‘’And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.’’

I hope you choose the Lord Jesus Christ and seek Him wholeheartedly!