Future Hope

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

While Memorial Day is officially about honoring the heroes of the past, it might also serve the purpose of keeping sacrifice and service alive and in perspective for future generations. In a post-Covid world, the future may appear a bit daunting. And for some, that discouragement has quietly turned into disappointment with God.

Job is an example of someone whose life took a hard turn. While your disappointments may not be as tragic as his, you can certainly understand his very human response in giving voice to his distress, “God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me” (Job 19:6). However, he did not stay in a mindset of disillusionment. Shortly after making the previous statement he adjusted his focus, stating, “for I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the Earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26).

While Job did not have the full picture of Christ in his human identity, he exercised faith by deciding to place his hope in God’s plan. The same is true for many of the heroes being celebrated today. They did not see the results of their sacrifice, but they trusted their service was not in vain, but a part of the purpose for a better tomorrow.

Christ set the tone for everyone enduring unforeseen hardship, “for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). Pray as America honors heroes of the past today that citizens also embrace a future hope in Christ.

Today’s Verse: Jeremiah 29:11

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.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Hebrews 10:21-25 

21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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