SCRIPTURE
“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
SPOTLIGHT
Life changes after a crisis. You can never go back to the way things were. You can never go back to the person you were before the crisis.
At a young age, my father-in-law had a motorcycle accident. He lost a limb. As a teenager, it was a severe crisis. His life drastically changed. He could not go back. Now he faced questions about life. Who would want to marry a man with one leg? What could he do for a living having become impeded by this unfortunate accident which was not his fault?
In the book of Jeremiah, the Bible gives an account of the Jewish people who were defeated by the Babylonians and exiled to Babylon in 586 BC. What a crisis! People lost their homes, wealth, friends and country. They had disobeyed God. Their hearts had deceitfully misled them. Jeremiah 17:9 states, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Now they had been forced into captivity. Was there any hope? Their future looked bleak.
When facing a crisis, you must realize you could never go back to the way things were. The crisis permanently changes you. You have to learn how to live in a new way. Jeremiah preached a sermon in Jeremiah 29, that came to the exiles in the form of a letter. It explained to the Jewish exiles the reasons they were despairing, but also gave them hope for the future.
God wants to bless you in the midst of your crisis. You must humbly repent to discover this confidence. God will teach you how to live a normal life once again. You must learn not to listen to wrong voices which would lead you away from God. God has plans for your life that you cannot imagine.
My father-in-law was a committed Christian teenager. He believed God had a marvelous plan for his life. And so, God did. My father-in-law married a Godly woman. Together they entered full time ministry, and were greatly used as an evangelist and pastor. In addition, God so prospered my father-in-law and mother-in-law, that He gave them two wonderful children. The oldest was a beautiful daughter, who became my beautiful wife.
When facing a crisis, you never go back to the way things were, but you can go on to be blessed by God and discover the way things are to be.
SOMETHING TO DO
What do you normally do when you face a crisis? Think back to when you faced your last crisis. Did you get worried, irritated, or edgy? Maybe you did something that was even worse. How can this promise in Jeremiah 29:11, impact your life when you face a crisis in the future? There is no doubt about it. You will have a crisis sometime in your life. It is unavoidable. The question is will you face it the way my father-in-law faced it? How can you prepare yourself to believe that God has a wonderful plan for your life?
SOUL TIME PRAYER
Heavenly Father, today I commit my life to You not knowing what may happen, but confident You love me and have a wonderful plan for my life. I also want to thank You, that regardless of what crisis I may face, You will help me to adjust to my new situation. AMEN!