“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 on 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.”
- Jeremiah 29:11-13
A few weeks ago, as my monthlong sabbatical began drawing to a close, I embarked upon something I’d been looking forward to for weeks: a 5-day retreat to practice solitude, enjoy some reading, and work on a few writing projects. My plan was to criss-cross the state, exploring the open road and hitting a new town each day. As for lodging, I had waited too long making my plans to budget properly, so I decided I’d camp in state parks.
Monday evening, after a lovely afternoon in Tyler’s public library and a great coffee shop downtown, I pulled into my campsite at Tyler State Park, pitched my tent, and once the sun went down, I crawled in and zipped the door shut. It was time for a good night’s sleep.
Roughly 1.7 seconds later, I was coated in sweat. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s been hot the last few weeks. Burn your hand on the car door hot. 24-hour heat advisory hot. 90 degrees in the middle of the night hot. As I’d been warned beforehand by my wife and some wary friends, my plan for the week had run into the reality of a Texas summer.
That was one of the worst night’s “sleep” I’ve ever experienced (and the company of the world’s most aggressive raccoon digging around my campsite didn’t help matters). So the next morning, I drove to Waco, paid for 3 nights at the cheapest motel I could find, and bailed on the original plan. My retreat wound up being less scenic than I’d intended, but a lot more air-conditioned.
As the poet Robert Burns famously told us, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. You can think you know what your day, your year, even your life are going to look like, only to have your preconceptions shattered in an instant. Whether because your plans are at fault or because life simply throws you a curveball, sometimes you find yourself completely at a loss, having to feel around in the dark for a new way forward.
In such times, it’s helpful to remember the promise God made to his people in the days of Jeremiah. They found themselves facing an imminent exile into a foreign country, the most humiliating and faith-shaking future imaginable for a nation whose identity was so tied to the Promised Land their God had given them. Needless to say, exile was not their plan.
But even as God warned them of what was to come, the broader perspective he offered was encouraging—that ultimately, his plans for them were for good, not harm. The road ahead was not going to be smooth, and it certainly wasn’t going to be what they would have chosen for themselves. But even as God punished them with exile for their idolatry and faithlessness, he was still going to keep his covenant by preserving them in the midst of their trial. Life was going to look different moving forward, but God had not abandoned them.
For you today, there’s no telling what the future holds. Your big plans for tomorrow may play out exactly as you’ve drawn them up. Then again, they may be ripped to shreds by things far beyond your control, leaving you grasping for new options.
Whatever the case, know that when you cry out to your Father in heaven, he hears you. He has not left you alone in your struggle; he has not abandoned his child. The future may be uncertain, but his love remains steadfast. Your plans may fail you, but your God never will.
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