Plans to Give You Hope and a Future
(Read Jeremiah 29)
While watching Christmas with the Chosen earlier this week, something dawned on me. The Chosen is a crowd-funded drama series based on the life of Jesus Christ. The movie preamble featured great music from popular Christian artists as well as interviews. It was during the interviews when I realized that everyone has a story. Not just a brave, public, happy story, but a story with pain, demons, rainbows, and dark corners.
I met my friend (A) and her husband about 3 years ago. After some time and through many conversations, my wife and I became friends with them. She is one of those intriguing people you are eager to get to know immediately because you can see such godliness about her.
(A) sings in her church choir. She has a calm, confident presence on stage as well as in person. You never know what’s behind the outward shell of someone until they let you in. After three years, I knew she was a kind, gentle, attractive Mom with some musical talent, but I didn’t know much more.
“Through the crises I have faced in my life, I have gained faith,” (A) told me. “I grew up familiar with church surrounded by a saving faith,” she continued. “My grandmother told my mother she would give her the blessing for my mother’s second marriage as long as I was taken to church regularly.” So she did. “As a child, I was dropped off and picked up at church, but without that in my life things would have been very different.
“Having God ingrained in me from my childhood has helped me get through things in my life.” (A)’s acceptance of a God who created everything, empowers her to live her life authentically. “Knowing that I have a God, gives me control,” she said. (A) is not a control freak, far from it, but she is a direct and deliberate person who allows God to help her live, choose, and act confidently.
“My faith and God have set me up to take care of myself in all situations,” she remarked. (A) had some serious struggles with self-confidence, loneliness, and thoughts of suicide while in high school. Her low during this period didn’t exclude God. “I always had this feeling that God was behind me. I thought people didn’t like me,” (A) said. “They thought I was a goody-two-shoes.” Since then, (A) has talked with people from high school who said that they thought (A) didn’t like them.
“There’s always more to the story. God was protecting me through high school,” she said. She told me that God’s plan was better than her plans for herself. Maybe He kept her from associating with the wrong people at a time in her life when that could have been disastrous. Maybe God allowed her to focus on improving herself, becoming more independent, and allowing her to turn from her demons.
“When I was low toward the end of high school, God kept reminding me that there was a future beyond my current problems. When I got my financial aid packet from my college and saw it was enough for a full ride, I cried with relief and joy.”
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.”
Jeremiah 29:10
Jeremiah, or the “weeping prophet,” wrote this when Israel was enduring horrific isolation and captivity in Babylon. It was written to be a message to the Jewish people explaining their captivity and the hope of God’s promise. God always makes good on His promises, but we have a responsibility too. We don’t get to sit back and do nothing. Chances are that we are not in captivity, but we might be surrounded by toxic people. Rather than to run, we are called take root in where we are. Seek renewal not removal.
The message of Jeremiah is addressed to a group, not individual people. It’s a stamped declaration that even when things are at their worst, God is still in control. Things might not make sense to us as we’re going through it, but that doesn’t change the goodness or validity of His promise.
(A)’s faith waned a bit after college. “During my time in the service, I didn’t attend church much, but I always knew that God was there for me.” I had heard a story about her during combat in southeast Asia. It reflects so much about her as a person and a believer, I had to ask.
Early during the conflict, a small group of U.S. soldiers were given a broad mission, to work with some local tribal leaders to help defeat the enemy. The soldiers on the ground were traveling on horseback and were out-gunned and outmanned. Unfortunately, the enemy positions kept moving. “Due to old technologies,” she explained, “retargeting had never been done in the air before. During training, we were told it wasn’t possible.” Typical of my friend’s personality, her response was perfect. “Doesn’t sound that hard.” She continued, “Ooh, a math problem!” We both laughed. (A) used Trigonometry she learned in high school from a teacher she has not forgotten.
Her confidence not only came from her Trig teacher, but also from the faithful promise that God has instilled in her. There was a movie called 12 Strong that captured the mission she had a part in. Actor Chris Hemsworth played the special forces Captain who led the soldiers on the ground. Hemsworth also plays the character Thor in Marvel Comic’s movie series. “I saved Thor,” my friend said with a laugh.
After her time in the service, (A) sought God back into her life. “While living in Malibu, I had a miscarriage.” Her husband was still active and was deployed overseas. “I was crying in church. Probably a little too loud. A lady followed me out to talk with me and shared Jeremiah 29:11 with me after I told her what was going on.” Needless to say, it’s her go to verse of Scripture.
“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.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13
“When things weren’t working out, like my marriage, I told my husband, we’ll make this work.” Throughout our interview, (A) told me through all of her trials, that she always, ALWAYS knew, with God, she would make this work for His good. She continued, “God is on our side.” Her husband accepted Jesus into his life and made a public declaration of his faith and was Baptized. “For 15 years I prayed for his salvation. It worked.”
Jeremiah 29:11 wasn’t written to us, it was written for us. We spend so much time trying to go back to a time or place when things were easy. But we can’t. The more important truth is that God is with us presently, no matter where we are and what we’re doing. God is still and always will be in control. When we embrace Jesus Christ no matter where we are, we’ll find Him. If God decides it’s time for us to go somewhere else, He will show us how and tell us when.
Israel was exiled due to God’s punishment and suffered for 70 dark years of captivity in Babylon. Israel had no future, but Jeremiah’s message offered them a glimpse of grace — unmerited redemption, hope, and love.
“I now recognize things because of my relationship with God,” (A) said. “I have accepted to give up things for God’s good.” (A) is a busy working Mom, who serves actively in the church music ministry. She’s beautiful on the inside and out. When my wife and I first saw her in church, she was doing mostly choir and back-up roles. Then two years ago, we saw her sing lead and we wondered, where did this angel come from? “I have thought about stopping my time in choir, but there is too much good for me to be gained by serving with others in choir. We pray, it’s a ministry.”
So how do you prepare your family for Christmas?
“Two years ago my neighbors told my kids that Santa wasn’t real. Then, later my kids asked me again. Both of them had already understood and confessed their belief in Jesus. I told them that Santa is like the Holy Spirit, like how God gave us the gift of Jesus we can’t repay. Like Jesus, Santa puts joy into our lives. It’s God’s love for other people, the Spirit of God giving us Jesus.” I don’t believe you can sum up the relationship between the Christmas spirit and Santa Claus any better than that.
My friend is so inspirational to me on many levels. Her faith is more than just strong, it’s resilient. I’m blown away by her unflappable conviction that God’s plan for her is the best option. He will make things work for His good and (A) uses that as her template for living. In Jeremiah 29:13, God doesn’t say “I know the thoughts I have thought,” he says, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you.” Present tense. God is still thinking, still working, still refining things for us. This verse is written to give people hope who don’t understand what God is doing. All we need to know is that He is still doing it. He’s got it. It’s His world and in His control.
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Key Applications:
- Read Jeremiah 29. Don’t focus on the history of the chapter, focus on what God is telling you, how God is using you, and how you can keep getting better thanks to His plan for you.
- Look at your struggles. Are you ready to take them all on yourself? Do you have the time, strength, and means to do so? Probably not. Look to God to give you the confidence to work it out. Allow Him to let His plan for you unfold. Pray for faith. Stay on His path.
- Does Christmas time stress you out or give you hope? If you’re stressed by the hectic frenzy of this season, look behind the pace of Christmas time. Look at the promise of our God. Look for the baby that gives the promise life. Thanks be to God.
Where else in your life can you live out the teachings of Christ? Look for next week’s Devotion.