Well-loved, well-shared verse, Jeremiah 29:11 says,

 

“’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 a hope and a future.’”

 

Well meaning people often prescribe it for their worry-wart friends and loved ones to assure them of God’s plans to protect and provide for them and to assuage their fears.

 

But I contend it’s not about protection.

 

It’s about redemption.

 

Don’t believe me?  Go read what happened to the Israelites next. Don’t have time? I’ll sum up for you. The whole of Israel was carried away by the Babylonians, and Jerusalem and the temple were completely destroyed.

 

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

 

“In this world you will have trouble” is a promise we can take to the bank and cash now.  A promise I wish more health, wealth, and power peddlers would put in their pipes and inhale deep into their lungs. We will have trouble. God said so. I’ve sure had it. How about you? “But take heart,” is Jesus’ exhortation to hope, and His redemption is the reason.

 

“Look up, for your redemption draws near.” ~ Luke 21:28

 

Just like our sanctification, our redemption is not only a one-time event, bought for us by Christ’s precious blood, but a life-long process that God is fully on top of, fully engaged in.  It is something we both have and wait for.  It is His work, in us, and for us, and for His glory.

 

But the devil is a thief as well as a liar, isn’t he? He comes to rob and to steal. He comes to steal our innocence. He comes for our peace, our faith, our joy. He’s after our very lives and even,  most outrageously and arrogantly, God’s glory.

 

He comes daily. He comes incessantly. Oh, how he tries and delights in his rebellion and thievery.

 

But God…

 

With more calm and authority than we can imagine, our God simply reaches out His right hand and takes it all back again.

 

That’s exactly what He will do at the end of days, the end of the devil’s days. And that’s what He does in our lives now and in our stories, no matter how trouble-laced they seem to be.

 

A redemptive story. Do I have one?

 

These words had been working on me for over a year.  I knew the good the bad and the ugly of my life.  But the thought of opening that closet full of bones to others shivered my timbers.

 

Maybe you can relate.

 

Have you feared, as I have, the consequences of sharing your story? Have you worried it will be too hard for others to look at? Hurt their hearts? Assault their senses as it did yours? Provoke them to judgment — maybe even retreat? Have you wondered what good it would do to share even the barest of bones of the deepest darkest you carry with you every day?

 

You know — the stuff that’s there when you put on your shoes each morning?

 

What if you knew, though, what if you understood that this stuff you carry is redeemable, redeemed, and being redeemed? What if you came to understand that your life, ugly parts and all, is more than just your super sad story, though you did live it — maybe even currently living it — but that it is His story, for He plans to redeem it?

 

Just consider it. Put it in your pipe or your Essential Oils diffuser and breathe it in for bit.

 

And think of this: The devil isn’t going to get the glory in the end. Why should you, why should any of us, with silent lips and heads hung low, live like he has it now?

 

God has it. Live like He does, and give it to Him.

 

Photo Credit: Penny Mathews