This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. Jeremiah 29:10-11
Yesterday we once again experienced what the weather forecasters call a “nuisance” event. The rain, snow or wind is not destructive, disabling or catastrophic. It’s just messy and slows us down for a short period of time. I don’t know about you, but I seem to have a lot of “nuisance” events in my life. They begin in insignificant forms, such as an unespected phone call, stuck in traffic, a car repair, a cold, a disagreement and the list goes on. Yet they all put things in motion that temporarily change our plans, how we feel and what we can do, but never the less, things aren’t as we expected them to be for a short period of time.
Today’s verses, remind us that whether we’re in a predicament for the long haul, like a 70 year capitivity in Babylon or a nuisance event, God has a plan for it. To give us, I love this translation, the future we hope for. Although many times we see them as hinderances, because they throw a moneky wrench into our plans, God actually uses them to help and benefit us in ways, well, that often get missed. Some times we need to be slowed down, for the betterment of our health and relationships. Some times these little hindrances helps us avoid big ones, such as an accident. Even sometimes being sick can lead to finding something worse that if left undetected would be fatal.
I used to fight these nuisances and end up ruining my day and in the process even ruining other people’s day. I’d find myself blaming God and asking why for “just once” can’t He work with me! Until I realized, I was the one who wasn’t working with Him! When I stopped trying to control my life and everything in it, I was able to see God’s plan and not my own. This revelation came to me one day as I was railing against God as I was sitting in traffic and telling Him how I was tired of always “being the one” who gets into these messes. Finally traffic began to move! I was still grumbling when up ahead of me was a snow squall, so I put on my flashers and pulled over to the side. In a few minutes it cleared and I saw cars had spun out of control, one hit the guard rail, others hit one another. But there I sat safely unaffected, all because I sat in traffic minutes before. At that moment I had to cry out and say thank you to the Lord and for His forgiveness that even in my temper tantrum, He loved me so much He protected me from danger. It was truly a humbling experience, one I will never forget.
Now some may say, well what about the people who were in accidenta. Well, I can truly say none of them were hurt and all the cars were able to drive away on their own. And it made me think, as bad as the damage might have been, what greater things might God have been protecting them from? Like today’s title says, He’s working ALL THINGS for our good, even when we can’t see them.
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