The End of Spring Break / Jeremiah 29:11

Spring Break is coming to an end. After almost a week and a half of time off from school, tomorrow marks the day I'll move back into my dorm and rejoin life at Belmont. I greet the return to school life with a mix of joy and anxiety -- the former because I'm excited to see my friends and to live in the college environment again, and the latter because I know what's in store for me in this last month of school.

There's classes to attend; papers to write; speeches to draft; an EP to finish, print, and sell; shows to play; a GPA to keep up; friends to enjoy life with; and, of course, the ever-elusive sleep. How I'll manage to accomplish everything is beyond me, but maybe that's worth considering. On my own, I'll struggle to balance everything and end up blowing off one or more of my goals. However, if I stay focused with the help and guidance that comes from the reassuring hand of the Almighty, I just might be able to pull it all off.

Amidst the pre-return turmoil, I started to think about the well-known verse in Jeremiah that speaks of God's plans to prosper us. I could certainly use a plan myself! I looked up the verse and, in doing so, discovered some interesting things.

First, however, the verse in question:

Jer 29:11 (NIV) "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."

Found in Jeremiah 29, this message of the Father's plan for us comes along with a judgment of 70 years' exile and captivity for the people of Judah. It may seem ironic or short-sighted that the verse which adorns many inspirational posters would be found right next to a decree of a lifetime's enslavement, and it certainly is no basket of roses, but I think its placement brings a richer and ultimately more fulfilling message to the verse. Here it is again in fuller context:

Jer 29:10-14 (NIV) This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

Though we live in a world that is not our own, in which we live a kind of spiritual captivity, there is yet hope for us. The difficult times and seemingly endless trials of daily life are not without meaning or purpose -- God has ordered our steps, as long as we follow in His path.

In comparing my own stresses and worries with those of the people of Judah, who were forced to live in bondage for a full 70 years, things don't seem so overwhelming anymore. I can certainly handle what's to come, and I can embrace it with confidence and joy. I know that through the process I will be able to seek God more fully, and gain in return a more complete hope with the promise of a blessed future.