A Future and a Hope

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)

Jeremiah had the painful mission of being the minority prophetic voice to a people that found his message unappealing. His message was an attempt to turn Judah towards spiritual repentance, and he repeatedly announced to the people that it would be a wise choice if the nation would make the decision to rid the land of idolatry.

Now, God had warned Jeremiah that the people would ignore him and that they would be sent to captivity by their own spiritual rebellion. And as a result of Jeremiah’s unpopular message, he was never short of naysayers. He was never short of adversaries who were always lined up to make attempts at taking his life. And more than a few attempts were made to kill the tenderhearted prophet.

Of course, as you would imagine, this had a deep emotional effect on the prophet of God. He was God’s mouthpiece, but he was also human. As best as he could, he attempted to manage isolation and rejection and hurt. When you read his reflections, it is all too easy to discern how tired he was from being the daily laughingstock of the city and the constant target of cruel communal mocking. And yet he kept prophesying. Over and over again, as he declared the word of the Lord, he was thrown into prison. And the vicious cycle followed him throughout his entire ministry.

If anyone faced nothing but hopeless struggles, it was Jeremiah. But even though he faced those constant trials, he knew God would deliver him someday. And knowing that kept feeding his hope. He bleeds this blessed hope in chapter 29, verse 11 of the book that bears his name. In reflection about his calling versus his constant isolation and mistreatment, he tells us that God said to him, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you…thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Can you relate to Jeremiah? Are you weary from the constant trials, the pain of rejection, or the emotional rollercoaster of life? The words God spoke to Jeremiah can also be said of you: God is thinking about you. God’s thoughts about you are of peace and not of evil. God wants to give you a future and a hope.

Cling to that hope today.