Series: Blessed Be
John 1:16 ESV
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
Jeremiah 29:4-9 ESV
Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
We don’t always see our glass as being half full, especially when a problem looms large on the horizon.
I think there is a reason for that.
For example, this week a major hurricane hit in the Southeast U.S. and (as always) they don’t know exactly which way the “beast” will swing. They are able to do the science and give some indication about which areas need to evacuate, but hurricane force winds can shift.
Before I retired I worked for a company and we had customers who were in the path of Katrina. I was one of the people who helped our customers begin to rebuild their life after the disaster. Even though I was not on-site, I did have regular contact with those who were there.
It was horrible for the people who lost their homes.
During that time There were customers and people who were working on-site I spoke with on a regular basis.
They were able to tell me what losing their home and most of their belongings felt like. Many of them asked for prayer. What’s interesting about that is the fact that they did not know I was a prayer.
Somehow instinctively God showed them or told them they could trust me to pray.
I learned that God’s fullness comes to us in many ways.
Often it’s quite unexpected.
Indeed, in John 1:16 we are told, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
What surprised me in the case of the hurricane victims is that almost every person I spoke with mentioned their need for God.
They knew that even though they had suffered many losses, God was with them and God would provide for their daily needs.
Many of them even talked about their hopes and plans for the future. They WERE plans that were based on the belief that God would provide from a perspective of abundance and grace. They trusted God when they had no clear path for their future.
There were customers I spoke with that also asked me if they could pray for me. They asked if I was okay.
Understand, I was many many miles away from where they lived and they knew that because they knew the location of headquarters and offices for my company. Yet…they were not focused on their loss.
They were focused on God.
Many of them told me they knew God would provide and would not fail them. They believed God had a plan for them.
During this time period God brought a scripture to me from Jeremiah 29:11. The prophet wrote these words that God gave him, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
The words that Jeremiah, the Prophet wrote were in a letter that was sent to fellow Israelites who had been captured and taken to Babylon.
In the letter God gave him the promise that after a time (seventy years) they would return to their homeland.
While that might not have comforted the captives who had been taken from their homeland, it was a solemn promise that those who had been captured (mostly young men) would return. Still, the promise for them was also for future generations.
In the letter Jeremiah wrote the words from God said, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord (Jeremiah 29:4-9).
The letter was a promise that God had a specific plan for Israel.
It was a promise that Israel would remain Israel.
The plan did not give specific details about their return. They were not told what jobs they were to do while they were in Babylon. They did not know how they would return.
They did not know the day or the hour.
By faith they waited.
Wise King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:5-6,
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
They trusted God for they return, and God was faithful to the promise.
Spiritual Practice: Your Promise
What is your promise from God? Spend time with God about your promise. Trust and acknowledge God that your path will be made straight.
In God. Deborah
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