Jeremiah 29.11

There's a worship song that has great significance for someone I know, to spare their blushes I will call this someone "Wensleydale". Whenever I hear it I think about their testimony, about the way in which this particular worship song led them to a life-changing decision. Today as I listened to it I thought about that life-changing decision and how it has led to a life that is frequently crap.

I accept that 'crap' is a relative term, I further accept that the alternate choice may have been crapper (or should that be crappier?), but in any case I know that Wensleydale would agree that their life hasn't been great since that life changing decision was made.

Old Arrogant Atheist commented on this earlier:
"You've got that little fridge magnet of Jeremiah 29.11. It says God has plans to prosper you and not harm you. How has Wensleydale been prospered?"

I floundered, I hadn't got a clue, that passage and the riches that are implied within have always been a sticking point for me: I can think of so many people who have been harmed by life, so many who have done everything possible in the vain hope of prospering. God never seems to answer their prayers, and his plans for them involve council estate accommodation, no income and life threatening addictions.

Then something clicked, and it made sense.

I could have sidestepped the attack by pointing out that Jeremiah was talking to the Israelites kept captive in Babylon. But I knew that wouldn't hold much water. After all, how can I argue that the Bible applies to us today, if I then avoid answering tough questions.

No, this tough question demanded a tough answer. The answer was 'Look at Jesse'.

Jesse's son would grow up to be the second king of Israel and turn the Israelites into a dominant race, his grandson would be so wise as to write the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon (probably). His descendants would become a dynasty, and yet Jesse himself missed out on greatness by a generation.

Perhaps my friend Wensleydale made that particular choice not to prosper now, but to prosper in the next generation or, like Jesse's father Obed, in two generation's time. Perhaps the decision made was not to improve Wensleydale's crappy life, but to lay the foundations for his childrens' or grandchildrens' lives.

If Jesus was prepared to die to give humanity a better future, perhaps God's plans aren't so brilliant now, but perhaps they lead to the best future imaginable. God plays the long game, He is the Lord of all, and especially of deferred gratification

So if we're going to read Jeremiah 29.11, and take comfort from it, let's do it in its entirety:

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.