LifeDate Fall 2024 – Hope and a Future
by Pastor Michael Salemink
“‘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’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
What a delightful and beloved assurance Jeremiah delivers from our Heavenly Father!
The prophet is ministering to a heartbroken Israel. Pagan Babylonians have deported their people from the Promised Land and left their Jerusalem in ruins. Yet even amid this despair, the Lord God has not forgotten His covenant or abandoned His plan of salvation for the chosen people—and ultimately the whole world.
These words anticipate two fulfillments. First, after seventy years in exile, the people will return, rebuild, and resettle. Second, in seven hundred years, Jesus the Savior will fulfill what all Israelite history prefigures and gather all the elect of humankind into a new heavens and earth inaugurated by His sacrifice and resurrection.
Our Almighty Maker has always had in mind good things for His people. He continually regards them with forgiveness and favor that invite us to hope in what’s coming. Of course, the blessings may not all materialize immediately. And God’s grace does not exclude us from all difficulty. Those living during and even after Babylonian captivity struggle under the curse of sinfulness. False prophets and unfaithful inhabitants face severe consequences.
(The NIV translation, “… plans to prosper you and not to harm you …,” misleads a little. “Prosper” sounds like material gain, and “not to harm” sounds like invincibility from all injury. ESV’s “… plans welfare and not for evil …” captures the sense of survival and salvation—rather than primarily profit—and shielding from what endangers the soul—instead of principally what disturbs the body.)
How appropriate for the life issues. Difficult situations like surprise pregnancy and terminal diagnosis can tempt us to forget our Savior’s presence and power. Comfort comes not from making deals with death but from the gifts He wrings and the privileges He brings even in and through hardship. An everlasting, unchanging, and all-sufficient Creator and Keeper not only provides life, He protects it as well!