Fearless Future: Face the Unknown Without Anxietyنموونە

“If you think I can live without fear of the future, then you obviously don’t know the future I’m facing!” – Anonymous Reader

I’ve felt that way before.

Also, you’re right. I don’t know your future. But let’s spend some time looking at it from God’s point of view, beginning with one of the most quoted verses from Scripture.

In our modern day, Jeremiah 29:11 is printed on coffee mugs, t-shirts, journals, and throw pillows. This fantastic promise offers us wonderful insights about God.

“‘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.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

But what are you supposed to do if:

• Your future doesn’t look so good?
• Your child is in a hospital?
• You’re grieving the loss of a loved one?
• You lose your job?
• Untrustworthy world leaders are in power?
• Future changes exist entirely outside of your control?
• Everything feels uncertain and unsafe?

If your future looks bleak, Jeremiah 29:11 is for YOU!

The original recipients of this letter can certainly relate to worst-case circumstances. Jeremiah sent this promise to survivors exiled in Babylon.

The Israelites had broken their covenant with God, their leaders were corrupt, and their communities were rampant with social injustice. When their enemy conquered them, those who survived were forcibly ripped from their homes and taken captive. It’s to these survivors that Jeremiah wrote his letter, telling them they’ll be trapped in this undesirable circumstance for 70 years.

God instructs them to create lives there, in the place none of them want to be. To plant gardens and build homes. To grow their families, which means to hold big celebrations. To seek the good of a city that’s not their own, and pray for it, because they all can prosper there.

Why?
Because God will fulfill His promise to them.
Because God knows the good plans He has for their future.
Because when they seek God, even though they’d previously turned away, they will find Him again.

When I think about how God planned for their good future decades in advance, I feel comforted and conflicted at the same time.

It can feel encouraging to know that God doesn’t quit or tire out. His plans are not shortsighted.

It can be comforting even in our unwanted circumstances, to see how God instructed them to multiply and be fruitful in theirs.

He gave them peace to calm down and simply be in the place that they were. They didn't have to wait for God's goodness or provision until after they left that hard place. God cared for them even there.

Yet I feel conflicted and angsty when our God who is outside of time still allows things to take so long. He took care of them the whole time and yet, in their long waiting, generations married and had children before they returned to the promised land.

God created us able to hold conflicting feelings at the same time. That’s part of why it’s possible to experience joy and peace in a place you don’t want to be.

I found that out right there in that hospital room, and in many other tough rooms since then. But a moment without fear isn’t the same as living each day without it.

Let this letter to the exiles in Jeremiah offer you a different perspective about your future. No matter where you are, no matter what season you're in, God plans for your good. Get ready for a bigger, brighter, lighter future, with practical steps coming your way in this plan tomorrow.