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We’re all encouraged by a leader who stirs us to move ahead, someone who believes we can do the task he has given and who will be with us all the way. God is that kind of leader. He knows the future, and his plans for us are good and full of hope. As long as God, who knows the future, provides our agenda and goes with us as we fulfill his mission, we can have boundless hope. This does not mean that we will be spared pain, suffering, or hardship, but that God will see us through to a glorious conclusion.God did not forget his people, even though they were captives in Babylon. He planned to give them a new beginning with a new purpose---to turn them into new people. In times of dire circumstances, it may appear as though God has forgotten you. But God may be preparing you, as he did the people of Judah, for a new beginning with him at the center.According to God’s wise plan, his people were to have a future and a hope; consequently, they could call upon him in confidence. Although the exiles were in a difficult place and time, they need not despair because they had God’s grace. If we seek him wholeheartedly, he will be found. Neither a strange land, sorrow, persecution, nor physical problems can break our fellowship with God.--- Life Application Study Bible notes