to give you a future and a hope – Jeremiah 29 v 11

Jeremiah prophesied in dark and confusing times. Prophet contradicted prophet. Would the enemy overrun and destroy, or would the nation be saved once again? No-one knew whether to hope or despair.

Jeremiah presents God’s promise of the two things that we need: a future and a hope. Without these we have no reason to justify carrying on. Yet God wanted the people to carry on because, even though He was punishing them, He did have plans for them: they were not forsaken!

They didn’t know what to expect, but God reassured them of His plans and His future for them. Despite the rottenness of Israel and Judah, God’s plans were for wholeness, not for evil.

The adversary would have us live in despair, in an uncertain future, devoid of hope.

As the Psalmist says:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”

When we realise that our hope and our future are real, and founded in God, then we will call on Him and pray to Him (Jer. 29v12); then we will seek Him and in wholeheartedly seeking Him will find Him, and in Him will find our future and our hope!