A Future and a Hope

OK ... I know this passage is not a usual Advent or Christmas passage.  But, on this first Sunday of Advent, I am "hopeful" you will get the point.  "For you know the plans I have for you, 'Declares the Lord,' plans to prosper you and to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11)."  Jeremiah, the prophet to Judah, around 585 BC, writes these words to 'the surviving elders and priests that have been taken into captivity in Babylon.  I want you to keep this letter tucked into your pocket during the Christmas season.  In the darkness of captivity, in the depths of despair, in the throes of loss (note that the letter is to those elders and priests that "survived"), in the destruction of the temple in 586 BC, and in the displacement from their homeland, Jeremiah offers hope.

It was amusing last Sunday, as several of my friends, on the coattails of lost football games, said, "Hey ... basketball season is here!"  We need to keep hope before us.  Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:13, says hope is one of the three enduring facts of life in God.  For these exiles, they needed a big dose of hope.  Here is why.

1. In our "push button" world, where we click on an icon, enter a little information, and can get almost anything, we can become quickly frustrated and impatient.  Sometimes, we are the same way with God.  We pray and want results.  God, in this story from Jeremiah, gives hope, but that hope comes through the process of God's plan. "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce (Jeremiah 29:5)."  Later (in Jeremiah 29:10) God says that He will return them to their home in 70 years!  WOW!  They have to wait 70 years for God to bring them home?  Is that really hope?  Yes ... because when we/they are in God's plan, they need to place their lives, hope, and trust in God.  Maybe, that is how God teaches us and gets His message through to our thick skulls!

2. There are always false prophets, that will tell us their opinion or what we want to hear.  "Everything is fine!" "God will 'zap' our enemies, give us riches, protect our land, and restore us."  The falseness of immediate restoration and quick prosperity is a popular message.  Jeremiah reminds the people the process will take a while.  Quick, emotional, feelings-based solutions and salvation aren't God's "go-to" way of doing things.  God CAN do this.  But, God seems, most often, to use time, process, and plans to teach us the struggles of life.  It is in these struggles we learn to trust, to strive, to persevere, and to grow, so that when we meet God, we will know Him and have a solid, long-term relationship with Him.

3. And here is the most hopeful news ever!  The hope we really need is the hope of God's life-long, solid, beautiful presence with us.  "We have this HOPE, as an anchor for our souls," Hebrews 6:19 says.  God's plan for us is a plan to lead us into a future greater than we could ever imagine.  The writer of Hebrews, as he encourages a struggling nation, calls our hope in God, "strong and secure."  God isn't about event planning, quick fixes, and push-button solutions.  God is "with us [Emmanuel]" for the long haul!

For us, this season, let's enjoy hope in the process of each day.  Let's embrace hope as we live in His grace and live out His story.  Let's remember a letter to people in exlie in a strange land that was sent to tell them ... live life out loud, expressing that our God reigns, our God provides, our God is present and real, and our God will be there when our exile ends.  AMEN