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Our Plans

                 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. (Jeremiah 29:11)

                The Jews had flirted with Babylon. It was a powerful nation. Too late, they discovered that the very things that made it exciting were the toxins that would be focused on them. They had imagined prosperity, hope, and a future as a worthy consort. Things didn’t turn out quite as they’d planned. How could God not only allow, but orchestrate this? Everyone just ignore the fact that they’d flirted. They’d made it clear that their dreams were what they wanted, even if their dreams weren’t aligned with reality. God gave them what they thought they wanted.

                What can I tell you about this verse that you haven’t heard or dreamed of before? How many times have you said, “Yes! Prosperity! Hope! A Future!” only to find that God’s ideas about those three terms aren’t quite what you wanted them to be?  He might even give you what you foolishly prayed for. The repercussions of our prayers can sometimes confuse us. How can 2+2=complications, frustrations, and challenges?

                One of the bits of reality that we need to accept is that complications, frustrations, and challenges often provide the prosperity, future, and hope that would be unavailable in an easy life. If nothing else, tough times build strength that let us enjoy the prosperity, future, and hope. Imagine wealth and power with debilitating illness. Or with so little self-control that within months, you’re as far in debt as you were wealthy. There are things you need in order to enjoy what God has in store for you.

                You know all this. You’ve been told about it and you’ve lived it. But if you’re like the Jews, and like me, when the going gets tough, we get heartbroken, anxious, and maybe even resentful. But before God said what we read above, He told the Jews to build houses and establish lives in Babylon. It’s part of God’s plans that we learn to live and build good lives wherever we find ourselves. We’re to be the people of God no matter where we are and no matter what’s happening. One of the points is that we should learn to trust God even when we don’t approve of Him or His plans. 

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