On our refrigerator there is a magnet with Jeremiah 29:11 written on it. It is my least favorite magnet. Well, let me rephrase that: I don’t like the magnet.
That little magnet is not just a reminder of the goodness of God. It’s a reminder that, whether through my own disobedience or through the frailty of mankind, I experience seasons during which God allows me to be beaten down by awful circumstances. And though the exile may not be seventy years long (as was the case in Jeremiah’s day), I still feel the pain.
And in the midst of the pain, God shows up and says, “I know the plans I have for you.”
Pastor Art gave us a wonderful example of an honest prayer response in such cases: “God, You ambushed me! Why did You send me here?” And so it is. God, who sees and knows everything, who never gives us more than we can bear (First Corinthians 10:13), puts us into some really tight situations from time to time. And He expects us to still worship Him in spirit and in truth.
But God, seventy years?
My little Jeremiah 29:11 magnet is a reality check. Yes, God loves everybody. Yes, God does all things well. Yes, God saves and delivers. But this same God, out of His love, also brings afflictions, losses, and sufferings. He does so with the promise that He will prosper us. Our futures are filled with hope.
And what shall we do? Job said it well: “Shall we accept good from the hand of the LORD and not evil?” (Job 2:10) And the Scripture tells us that this statement is evidence that Job did not sin.
So, perhaps we should remember that a life of submission to Jesus is not all about ease and surfeit. Some of us have been suffering for seven months and it kind of feels like seventy years. Some, like Job, have buried children and lost properties. Yet we hold on to the hope: God is with us. And we Christians smile not because of what we have, but because of who God is.
So I keep the magnet. And I am encouraged.
"I love You, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You; o my soul, rejoice!" (Laurie Klein)
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