Playing in the Dirt: Devotions for Crazy Plant LadiesSample

Hope for the Future

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

JEREMIAH 29:11 ESV

The laws of biology ensure a certain future for plants. We expect that when we correctly prepare the soil, plant a seed, and provide it with water and sunlight, biology will take its course and eventually, a tiny plant will spring up out of the dirt. With care, the small seedling will grow and mature, in time becoming a thriving adult plant.

Don’t you wish sometimes there were similar laws of nature ensuring our future? It would be comforting to know our lives were perfectly mapped out ahead of us. We could let go of worry. We wouldn’t be troubled by the unknowns. Oh, wouldn’t that be nice!

Friend, if you know Jesus, He is your certainty about the future. His Word is the governing law over your life. But what exactly does that mean? God’s Word says that He sees every one of the days we’ll live before we’re even born (Psalm 139:16). He knows what’s ahead of us. He says we will have trouble in this world, but we can take courage because He has overcome the world (John 16:33).

To state it simply, it means we can have hope because God holds our future.

When we say to Jesus, “I believe in You, and I trust You with my life,” we receive the security that in the end, when our life on earth is over, we will live with Him for eternity in heaven, a place with no sorrow or sadness, no fear about the future.

It means that our most challenging days are not the end. It means that dark clouds will not hang over us forever. It means that God is with us when things are difficult, and because of the future He has planned for us, we can be hopeful—even joyful!—in the present moment. Like a tiny seedling, we know He will take care of us. We cannot see our entire future, but we can trust that God does and place our hope in Him.

Thank You, God, that You hold my future. Help me trust You with the unknowns of my life. Let me release the fear and despair that I sometimes feel and be hopeful in You.