August 22 - Plans to Prosper

 Read today’s texts first: Jeremiah 28-30; 1 John 3

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Like the posters and plaques on our walls,
we tend to highlight what God will do for us
but edit out what we must do for Him. 

Reading through Jeremiah is not always uplifting. No wonder he was called the “Weeping Prophet!” These were dark days for God’s people. But knowing we were heading into chapter 29 today, toward one of the most quoted verses of the entire Bible, I kept my eyes and heart open to the surrounding context.

First the verse: “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” (29:11). Such an encouraging word - makes you warm and fuzzy! It certainly seems appropriate for a wall plaque or greeting card. But as Paul Harvey would say, we need to hear the rest of the story.

The context for this promise is not quite as warm or fuzzy - it is cold, harsh and crystal clear:  “I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to my words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord (28:17-19). There is an obvious condition to this promise - listen and obey. If you don’t, God’s plans for you may not be so prosperous; in fact, they just may be quite harmful, at least in the short term!

Like so many of the promises we post on our walls and magnetize to our fridges, we tend to highlight what God will do for us but edit out what we must do for Him. Our reading in 1 John confirms the conditions of God’s promises. Dear friends, if our conscience is clear, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive whatever we request because we obey him and do the things that please him. And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us (3:21-23).

“Lord, what do you have planned for me to do today? Your plans are my plans today and every day - I like Your promise of a hope-filled future!”