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“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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)
Background
Jeremiah was given a difficult assignment at a difficult time. God needed a faithful voice to deliver some tough messages to his people. Messages that called out pride, ingratitude, idolatry, adultery and orphans and widows neglect. Messages often rooted in repentance.
But Jeremiah also had another role. To breathe hope into a people that were recently dealing with the despair of Babylonian captivity. Hope that Jerusalem would be rebuilt someday. Hope that Christ was coming. Hope that God would heal their spiritual wounds. Hope for a better future.
Reflections
God’s plan is to give us hope and a future.
Almost 22 years ago this month Sherri and I were notified that she had bone cancer. Nate was a few months old. Drew was a 2 year old. During the next 18 months the test results were frequently not what the doctor had been expecting. Nor what we had been expecting. The road in front of us was uncertain and scary. We were desperate for hope.
Over the years the pressures of life have at times closed in. I have this pressure to perform. Honestly, probably more self-induced than necessarily from other sources. I have felt pressure to keep it going. And going. And going. And the cycle has continued. And there have been times where I have laid in bed wondering how I would get through the next week. Certain that the current mountain in front of me this time was too high. I was desperate for hope.
We live in a world that is desperate for hope. Hope for a better marriage. Hope for a release of pain for our current difficulty. Hope for the release of addiction. Hope for reconciliation of a relationship. Hope for deep and safe relationships that simply accept us. The list goes on.
We serve a God that designed a plan for our lives. A plan that is hope-filled. And during the last year it is this verse that I’m increasingly trying to absorb. Asking the Holy Spirit to transfer this revelation in me from a head thing instead to a heart thing.
Lord, please continue to allow me to truly feel your hope in my life. To experience it. Forgive me for taking my eyes off you. For being more focused on the height of the mountain in front of me. Even sometimes giving up. Let hope be a more powerful virtue in my life than stress or worry or fear. Let me go much beyond experiencing hope though. Help me, like Jeremiah, to distribute hope to my world and relationships also in desperate need for the same. Amen.
What if each us really lived a life that reflected the hope that is ours in Christ? What if the church became fixated on delivering a message of hope to our personal network? How would the world react?
What if... 