Most people in my little corner of the world are pleasant to think about. Thoughts of them make me smile or bring comfort and joy to my mind. As the late Glen Campbell sang, they are Gentle on My Mind. We think of our friends and loved ones often in a day, a week, or a lifetime.
The Lord also has billions of people He thinks about continually, and they are gentle on His mind. They are us! Imagine it. Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT) says, How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! Again, in Psalm 40:5 (NKJV), we read, Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
Maybe at this moment, you feel like no one could possibly be thinking about you—just little old, insignificant you. Wrong. Really wrong. Your Heavenly Father is thinking about you right now! His thoughts toward you cannot be counted. He has plans for you! Hopes! Dreams! He is the Potter; we are the clay. He fashioned each of us so that our unique place in the Body of Christ is tailor-made just for us.
That takes a lot of careful thought and planning, but who can know the Lord’s thoughts? (Romans 11:34 NLT). His thoughts are very deep, Psalm 92:5 tells us. O Lord, what great works You do! And how deep are Your thoughts. Imagine that His thoughts about you are very deep!
Earthly fathers have hopes and dreams for each of their children. Similarly, our Heavenly Father has a great plan for His children. “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” (Jeremiah 29:11). He spoke these words to a people going through great difficulty and suffering, to encourage them amidst great hardship.
Likewise, the Lord can prosper us and give us a future and hope regardless of our present situations. In the next verse, He offers a great promise (Jeremiah 29:12), “Call on Me and come and pray to Me…I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
The Lord’s thoughts toward us cannot be numbered—they outnumber the grains of sand! We are gentle on His mind. He loves to think about us and our future. He envisions us doing what He had in mind when He created us. And what is that? Our prayer to You, O Lord, is that we will always be gentle on Your mind and that You will show us, this very day, what Your thoughts are toward us.
© 2024, Chris Custer Werre
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