August 19 - Jeremiah 26-29: The Future You Hope For

Every year at this time, I struggle with some anxiety and sadness about my girls' return to school.  I know I'll miss them, but I also know that they need to move forward to the next grade and new challenges.  I can get fearful for their safety and for the unknowns ahead, but I also know that they are securely in God's grasp and equipped for the adventure ahead.

This is the time of year when the familiar and beautiful verses of Jeremiah 29:11 come to mind and that are often recited at the beginning of a new life chapter.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (NIV)

Reading them in context in the Message sheds a deeper meaning,

Then God told me, 'This is the Message from the God of Israel:  The exiles from here that I've sent off to the land of the Babylonians are like the good figs, and I'll make sure they get good treatment.  I'll keep my eye on them so that their lives are good, and I'll bring them back to this land.  I'll build them up, not tear them down;  I'll plant them, not uproot them.

'And I'll give them a heart to know me, God.  They'll be my people and I'll be their God, for they'll have returned to me with all their hearts....'

This is God's Word on the subject:  'As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home.  I know what I'm doing.  I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

'When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.

'Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.' (24:4-7; 29:10-14)

God shed new light on this passage for me that expands it far beyond prosperous plans and the future I hope for:

• His timing is way different than mine.  To me, a long wait is a week, maybe a month.  It was another generation (70 years) before the exiles were called out of Babylon and God's plans would go into effect.
• His plans are very different than mine.  My idea of prosperous is security and comfort.  God's idea of good plans are a heart to know Him and to return to Him with all of my heart.
• His method requires much more of me than I freely give.  I want to pray Jeremiah 29:11, claim it, and believe everything will be better soon.  He asks me to seriously seek Him above anything else.

Father, You say that You won't disappoint and I must rest my hopes there.  I may feel disappointed that circumstances or people haven't changed in the time period that I would prefer.  I may feel disappointed and less than prosperous by suburban standards.  But, that is the indication of my sin - eyes focused on what I want, not You; a heart wrapped around myself, not calling out to You.  Don't let me drown in the shallowness of my understanding of good plans and a prosperous future.

"Without an ongoing consciousness of sin, any sense of nearness to Me is counterfeit.  But with consciousness of sin, the fire of purifying holiness will sustain your faith in My goodness, your hope of a better day, and your love for Me and for this God-forsaking world." (66LL)