Not only does God have a plan but he also has a purpose. Notice the progression in verse 12.

12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

You will call upon me, come to me, pray to me, and I will listen. His purpose for us is that all of us would be in an intimate relationship with our creator.

In the beginning humanity was created to be in a healthy peaceful relationship with God and all of creation was given to humanity to take care of, to enjoy, and we see that humanity didn’t respond in gratitude, but in rebellion and fractured our relationship with God.

As a result it led to a lack of peace with God, with others, and even within ourselves. It is why we have tension with our friends and spouse, confusion about who God is, and ultimately abuse our own bodies because there is a lack of peace.

It is why our emo poets describe life like flowers and fruit that are fading and there is only grief for them to hold. They easily reflect on life and find melancholy, darkness, and despair. There is a lack of peace.

Yet scripture describes our relationship with God as a shepherd, “He gathers us into his arms and carries us close to his heart.” This is the picture of the relationship that the Lord God wants with us.

2000 years ago peace comes out of Jerusalem and God enters into human history, born of a virgin, His name is Jesus and He calls out to all of humanity, all who are weary, to come to him. However, what many of us can do in the midst of pain, suffering and loss is that we continually focus on the pain. We continually look at what we missed. We continually look for the “do over”. We focus on what could have been and we drive down the road through life continually looking in our rearview mirror, however, in the midst of pain call us to an intimate relationship with him.