A Different Dream

Jeremiah 29:10-11

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁰ This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

 
The really encouraging message in this text is that God is intending good for his people: that means us not just the Israelites back then. God is not in the hopelessness business. God doesn’t just wipe his hands of people and leave them without a future. So far so good.

However, none of us can dictate the precise nature of that future and that hope. God will indeed plan good for us. But the shape and the timing of that good is another matter. And we know from the history of Israel as well as our own and others’ histories that good is that which sometimes comes out of bad. It is not always plain sailing.

We each have dreams. We dream of happy children and healthy grandchildren. We dream of rewarding careers and friendly neighbours. We dream of fulfilling ministries and cures for our various ailments. All this is both right and natural. And God is well able to grant us each and every wish.

And yet, we know that it doesn’t always happen this way. While we can trust God to give us a future and hope, we can’t dictate just what that will be. While we can dream our dreams and trust God to understand them, we can’t demand they all come true. There are times he bids us dream a rather different dream.

David Reay