In my last post, I wrote about how my Jesusy tribe and I love Jeremiah 29:11.
When someone gets hurt, so often people say, “well, God has a mysterious plan.” But He doesn’t. He lays out the nature of His plan for us. His plan is that we won’t be harmed, that we will flourish, and that we will have a hope and a future. God works through all things and uses all things, but God’s plan is good, not evil.
Life doesn’t look like this all the time because we have free will and we choose other gods over God. Or other people chose other gods and we got caught in the crossfire. We worship money or success or our spouses or our careers or the golden calf that we made with our own hands. We worship the created, not the Creator. We live in a fallen world and there is sickness and death.
A long, long time ago we were with God and I guess we weren’t fully satisfied, so we made decisions based on our wisdom, not His. The pomegranate looked so delicious and the promises it offered were too tempting. And now we are all traveling through life, all figuring out how to get back home. Some of us aren’t sure that there even is a home anymore. Maybe some people think that they are passed the point of being welcome.
Photo credit: Eastlyn Bright
Jeremiah 29:11 was the first scripture I memorized when I was a sophomore in college. At a time in my life when I was a leaf in the wind, I was so comforted by the idea that there existed a God who not only noticed me, but noticed me so much that He planned for me a hope and a future. I spent the next number of years trying to figure out what that plan is.
I was in search of this plan, so like a good millennial, I traveled to find it. I studied abroad in England over a summer then spent five months in Chile after I graduated. I moved to Los Angeles and then I spent a summer in Haiti. Because: PLAN. There was a plan. I just had to experience a lot and find it.
I had always been a planner to the extent where the minutes feel suffocated. I spent my time traveling so that while I was traveling I could figure out how to use my time. And this is insane, but I think we all do it to some extent, right? “I’m going to do this with my time so I can figure out what I should actually do with my time.” Father Time gasps for breath, over-scheduled and searching for margin. I try to keep up, as I make an attempt at a schedule and a future that will bring me joy. But he has no regard, and keeps moving along anyway, breathless. He’s over sheduled and I just can’t keep up. And I chase him, breathless. I tried to control my future for a really long time. I still do. Maybe you do, too.
But I wanted God’s plan because my plan wasn’t working, so I set out on a quest. I traveled through countries and time traveled by me. If only…
I guess I stopped at verse 11. If only I had read past verse 11 and continued on through verses 12-14. Turns out the plan was laid out the entire time.
So what is God’s plan for my life and your life? The one that will make us prosper, give us hope, and won’t let us get hurt? It’s Him. He’s the plan. We will call on Him and He will listen. We will look for Him and find Him, if we look for Him with all our heart. Not when we have extra time. Not when we show up for church on occasion (He’s as much in church as He is in your living room)(still get thee to church.) But when we look for Him with our whole hearts. It’s so easy. It’s so hard.
We spend our time looking for the plan when we should be looking for Him. We look for the pot of gold that doesn’t exist. But the rainbow was there all along.
The purpose of Advent is so we can prepare ourselves and look forward to God’s coming. May we look for God with our whole heart, giving thanks in all things, so that our futures will be hopeful, good, and prosperous. He’s coming to bring joy to the world, and the joy is ours if we seek it with our whole hearts.