It's God's plan even when it's PAINFUL!

When we are in the midst of life’s mess, a crisis or uncertainty, we tend to fall back on Jeremiah 29:11, “ ‘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.’” And, yes, this is a great promise to keep in our hearts. However, we forget what is going on before this verse and what was said in verses 4-10.

Jeremiah 29:1-2 states “This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin[a] and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.)

To paraphrase verses 4-10 (because you should really get your Bible out and read it for yourself 😊), Jeremiah said that the Lord, the God of Israel, wanted the exiles in Babylon to basically carry on with living while they were in exile. Build houses, settle down, plant a garden, eat, marry, have children and seek peace and prosperity in the place where they were. Why? Because if it prospers, they will prosper. God tells them to KEEP LIVING but be cautious of what you see and hear because everything is not of Him. What is very thought provoking to me though is verse 10.

Jeremiah 29:10 “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.’”

Essentially, when your time in exile is completed, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back home. He didn’t go storming in to bring the exiles back home right away. They had to stay there for 70 years! They had to go through the process and while they were going through the process, God wanted them to KEEP LIVING, KEEP TRUSTING, KEEP BELIEVING, keep on keeping on. Some of those who went into exile were not able to realize the promise of going home and only knew of their time before exile. Some knew nothing but exile; only heard stories of life before and had to 100% trust in God’s good promises and perfect plan.

I feel like this is where we are as a people now. Trust is shaken because it seems that everyone is out for their own agenda. The “me first movement” is plowing ahead full steam and I am concerned that my grandchildren and their children will only know of this self-centered time and not of a time when people were honest, caring and good. However, we can’t just stop doing all the things we need to do.

It’s not just God’s plan for Him (God) to be good, trustworthy, and kind. It’s his plan for US to be good, trustworthy, reliable, kind, and to teach that to new generations to come. So what if it means you drive in the “slow” lane and everyone buzzes past you to get up front and be first? So what if someone sneaks in the checkout line ahead of us even though we’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes? So what if people lie, connive, and thrive while doing it? We cannot control other people and make them behave as we would behave – to be fair, take their turn, be generous, etc. We cannot force people to do the things we may do like take pride in their work, be faithful, be honest & sincere, etc. We are only tasked to be/do those things ourselves and mind our own behaviors and actions. Hopefully, we will pass those traits along to others by example – consistent example.

Let me be honest, I have all of the fingers pointing back at me right now. My family would love to regale you with how often I get frustrated driving in our insane town with all of the entitled people who feel it is their right to not play by the rules. I also get upset when my family isn’t treated with the proper respect and fairness that I believe that they deserve. My humanness comes barreling through my mouth sometimes. Here’s the thing, God knows that I’m a mess and that I am trying every day to be more like him. That’s all he asks me to do. Well, that, and to trust His plan because His plan is good and will work for my good because I do trust Him even when it hurts.

Now – keep living, keep loving, keep trusting, and keep believing. Teach others by example to be kind, good, faithful, generous, honest and to trust in God's perfect plan.