Audio Transcript
What is God’s purpose in the world? What is he trying to accomplish? We talk about his aims a lot on the podcast because until we know what his purpose is in this world, it’s impossible for us to figure out our purpose in this world. That comes up in key moments when thinking about personal productivity and finding purpose in life, as you’ll see in the APJ book on pages 84–88. And so, on this Monday, we have this question from Sarah, a question about two of our proximate Bible reading texts.
“Dear Pastor John, I hope you’re doing well. Thank you for taking my question today. While studying Jeremiah, I came across Jeremiah 1:12” — which we read on Wednesday — “where God says, ‘I am watching over my word to perform it.’ This grabbed my attention, but I’m unsure what it means and how it applies to me today. Is this just speaking about God’s sovereignty in fulfilling his promises, or is there a deeper meaning about what we can perceive to be his work in the world, evidence of his acts, perceived by those who study his word carefully? I understand that God is faithful, and his word will not return void, according to Isaiah 55:11” — which we read last week. “But how should I interpret this in my own life? Should this verse encourage me to trust that God will bring his promises to fruition, even in uncertain times? I also wonder how this affects how I approach God’s promises in Scripture. Can I rest confidently, knowing God actively watches over his word to bring it about in my life? Thank you!”
God-Given Discovery
As I’ve said, many people who write to us often propose really good answers to their own questions, and I think what that often means is this: “Pastor John, just tell us some more. Are there more insights and some more implications besides the one I’ve seen?” And, of course, there are always more. More than you’ve seen, more than I’ve seen, more than she’s seen, more than anybody ever sees. There’s always more. The Bible is an ocean. So, I just wanted to commend everybody who thinks of questions that way.
“Don’t short-circuit your own God-given powers of discovery.”
In other words, when you have a question about the Bible or about life, don’t immediately run to a teacher or Google or ChatGPT. Don’t short-circuit your own God-given powers of discovery. Let the first thing you do be to pray that God would help you, guide you. And then, think — put a pencil in your hand and a pad of paper out. That’s old school, but I really think it’s better than trying to do it on the screen.
Put a pencil in your hand, put out a pad of paper, write down your first idea. Criticize that first idea. Thinking begins with a question, and thinking continues by proposing possible answers to your own question in your own head and then criticizing your own possible answers in your own head with other truths that you know from the Bible and from experience until you see some good evidence rising up that one of these answers is right — probable or sure.
So, that’s what I do. That’s what everybody can do.
The Way God Watches
So, amen to the good suggestions that Sarah already made. She’s asking specifically about Jeremiah 1:11–12. “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see an almond branch.’” Now, the word almond in Hebrew sounds like the word watching. Jeremiah does this several times. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.’”
Now, I think a whole view of the universe hangs on how one understands Jeremiah 1:12: “I am watching over my word to perform it.” “I speak a word,” God says. “Then I watch it. Now, it might be a word pertaining to a week from now or seventy years from now or a thousand years from now, but I watch it.” And the huge question is this: In what sense does he watch it?
One view of the universe would say that God set in motion independent, natural, historical, social, psychological processes, and he’s so knowledgeable about those processes that he can predict, infallibly, what they will independently lead to. So, he watches. He watches his predictions infallibly unfold, come to pass. That’s one view of the universe.
According to this text, that’s not the true view of the universe, because in that last phrase God interprets what he means by “I am watching over my word.” He says, “I am watching over my word to perform it.” This is a different view of the universe. God is not watching independent processes of history unfold which he can understand and predict. God is not a fortune teller. He does not have an infallible crystal ball. He never — mark it — never merely predicts. He performs his word; he speaks it, and then he sees to it that the word will come to pass. That’s a different view of the universe than thinking of God’s words as predictions of independent historical processes rather than perfect performances of divine sovereignty.
Performing, Not Predicting
Indeed, God does know what will come to pass. But he knows what will come to pass because he performs what will come to pass. He doesn’t merely predict history; he creates history. We should not think of prophecy as an evidence that God has infallible insight into independent processes of history so that he can perfectly know those processes and make good predictions. They’re not independent. They depend on his will.
“God is not a fortune teller. He speaks his word, and then he sees to it that the word will come to pass.”
“[He] works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done” (Isaiah 46:9–10). And then he explains how he can declare today what will happen tomorrow or in a thousand years. He says, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:10). That’s how he knows he can declare the future — because he makes the future. The promises of God are the spoken purposes of God, and he says, “I accomplish all my purpose.”
The purposes of God do not come to pass because of independent historical processes. They come to pass because God is continuously active in those processes and sees to it that his purposes expressed in his promises never fall to the ground. Sometimes God speaks of his word itself as having power in itself to accomplish what it promises. For example, Isaiah 55:11: “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; . . . it shall accomplish that which I purpose.” Or Jeremiah 23:29: “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”
God’s Powerful Word
So, sometimes the Bible says God’s word accomplishes what it prophesies, and sometimes it says God accomplishes what he prophesies, but it never says God merely predicts what comes about independently of his accomplishing.
- 1 Kings 6:12: “I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David.”
- Jeremiah 29:10: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise.”
- 1 Samuel 3:12: “I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house.”
- Numbers 23:19: “Has [God] said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
So, here’s the application for our lives. The precious promises of God, which we trust and by which we live day by day, are not the predictions of a distant and very intelligent God who understands independent, social, historical, psychological processes that brought us to this point. Instead, these precious promises are the commitment of God himself to be present in our lives to perform what he has spoken. We enjoy fellowship with God as we trust his promises, as we trust him to perform what he has spoken by his very presence with us.
