LifeDate Fall 2024 – Hope and a Future
by Michelle Bauman, Director of Y4Life
Sometimes, holding things close makes them harder to read.
My grandpa was an avid coin collector, and he loved to involve his grandchildren in the hunt. I remember leaning in close, shoulder to shoulder with my little brothers, to peer down at coins in the palm of my grandfather’s hand. As I grew older, I was invited to gather around his pile of pennies and help him sort them by year. What treasures we would find!
It was my grandfather who taught me the value of old wheat pennies and the satisfaction of completing a set of coins minted in the same year. And it was his enthusiasm over errors in the minting process that still has me looking closely at coins today.
My grandfather has been gone for many years now, but I’m still learning his lessons. The most recent? Sometimes, holding things close makes them harder to read. (He promised I’d understand that one someday. Let’s just say, he was right.)
I’m guessing some of you who are reading this article haven’t had the pleasure of learning this lesson yet. It’s a condition called presbyopia—a type of farsightedness that creeps up on you with age. Over time, the eye’s lens becomes less flexible, making it harder to focus on things that are near. Hence, things held close are often blurry.
I was reminded of this phenomenon as I reread parts of Jeremiah in preparation for this article, not because the words were blurry but because the future seemed to be blurry, both for Jeremiah and God’s people.
Jeremiah had a difficult ministry. He was called to be a prophet to the Israelites before and after the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem. Having been made slaves in Babylon, God’s people were awaiting rescue. They wanted to go home, and they wanted to go home NOW. To make matters worse for Jeremiah, many false prophets were telling God’s people they would return home—and very soon!
But God inspired Jeremiah, the true prophet, to speak a different message in a letter to the exiles: God will lead you out of exile and return you to your homeland … in 70 years.
70 years. That’s a long time. For some, it would be a lifetime.
It would be easy to feel forlorn over this news, to be filled with anger and bitterness, wouldn’t it? Perhaps we can understand why God’s people disliked Jeremiah so much. His message would have been life changing. What about the future you had planned? What about the possibilities that were no longer possible?
Though it’s likely that none of us has been in exile, we probably do know someone who has received life-altering news of an illness, a disability, or the death of a parent or child or spouse. News with life-altering consequences that will have to be endured until death. Weighty realities that must be carried in a broken world for the rest of our lives.
Perhaps we can see, up close and personal, that the future would indeed be blurry. It would be unpredictable and filled with unexpected suffering.
But God’s Word reminds us that we are not alone in our suffering. Nor do we have a near-sighted God. In fact, Jeremiah clearly proclaims God’s far-sighted approach; not only is God with them, but He’s with them for the long haul. His plans and desires give them LIFE. How should they handle their exile? They should continue living, trusting in God to provide even during difficult times:
“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” (Jeremiah 29:5-7).
God’s people are to continue living. They are commanded to build homes and grow food and get married and have babies. Despite their location, God is with them; He has not forsaken them. And, even more, He still has gifts and joy to give.
But Jeremiah doesn’t end there. Not only will God bless individuals and families during this time of exile, but through them, God will also bless Babylon. “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” (Jeremiah 29:7).
Pray for a government that is not following God’s laws? Pray for the nation that has taken God’s people captive? God’s answer, even today, is YES.
And because God is the Lord of life, He also promises rescue. “For thus says the Lord: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place’” (Jeremiah 29:10).
Even more, despite the exile they find themselves in, God promises that He is working for good in the lives of those He loves:
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you’” (Jeremiah 29:11-12).
In suffering, God is at work to draw us nearer to Him.
Jeremiah has been gone for thousands of years now, but by the grace of God, we still learn from him today. His inspired prophecies still give us hope. No matter our location, the corruption of our government, or the trials we are called to suffer, we are not alone. God is with us, and He still has life-affirming gifts to give.
And when we are tempted to grieve over the blurriness of tomorrow, may we find hope in a God who sees clearly, a God who has good plans for us, and a God who is farsighted for our LIFE.