Enjoy the future... because you're going to spend the rest of your life there. ~Kim Clement (at the Den, Aug. 28, 2010)
What powerful truth lies in this statement from the other night?! We might live in the present now but we will always also be living and spending our lives in the future. If we are part of eternity, part of the people of God, we already live inside of the future because of His good plans.
There are two ways to look at this: on earth, and after our bodies die, our spirit lives on; our soul goes either back to God or to sheol. God doesn’t wish any to go to sheol; to be removed from His presence… when people make that decision He doesn’t force them to love Him… but He has good in store for those who will trust and love Him…
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jer. 29:11
God’s plans are not always what we think they will be. We sometimes wish everything was smooth, no bumps along the road, but God doesn’t work that way. Without the bumps, we can’t go through what we need to in order to grow and become all He would have us to be. Our trials are our training course for becoming better people. For becoming people of God. People of the promise in Christ.
Theodore Roethke once wrote, “I learn by going where I have to go.” Isn’t that so true? It is as true in everyday decision-making as it is in Christ… as true when it comes to relationships as learning a new skill. We have some things we need to practice more than others. We have some people in our lives that we will always learn from if we are open to it. We learn, Roethke says, by going where we need to. We learn when we allow ourselves to be open to the possibilities God has for us and by doing what we must. We learn from everything that is around us and all we experience… if we allow ourselves to.
When times are tough, this can be even more difficult than normal. There are times we don’t have eyes to see or ears to hear what is happening around us, or when we think our hearts cannot bear anymore of what is happening. Too much change; too fast; too different; too hard… and they trouble us. But perhaps if we see these troubles as ways to allow us to become closer to the One Who hung the stars in the sky like diamonds laid out on a sheet of black velvet; the One Who created us from the dust and His very own breath… perhaps then this paradigm shift will help us become more of Who He wants us to be.
“Swim through your troubles. Run to the promises, they are our Lord’s branches hanging over the water so that His children may take a grip of them,” Samuel Rutherford tells us. God is there for us, ready to reach out and help in every time of need… He is there in the future where we already live, whether we recognize that we do or not. I will be your God... I made you and I will care for you. Isaiah 46:4
What a wonderful promise! God says He will be there for us; as His creation, as those He loves, He has vowed to care for and be with His people. And whether we are going through tough times or great, He will always be there.
We are told in Scripture that He is there for us, and that trouble will not forever last:
Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Ps. 30:5
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. Is. 25:8 We are told these things so that we remember Who is on our side. If we are on His side, we can know He is with us, watching over us, helping us become the people He designed us to be. We will make mistakes; we will have times of weeping; we will have times of pain… but through it all, He is there. He has a plan for us, here in the present future we are in and in the future of the future we will soon be in. and those plans are for our ultimate good. All we must do is trust and believe.
What powerful truth lies in this statement from the other night?! We might live in the present now but we will always also be living and spending our lives in the future. If we are part of eternity, part of the people of God, we already live inside of the future because of His good plans.
There are two ways to look at this: on earth, and after our bodies die, our spirit lives on; our soul goes either back to God or to sheol. God doesn’t wish any to go to sheol; to be removed from His presence… when people make that decision He doesn’t force them to love Him… but He has good in store for those who will trust and love Him…
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jer. 29:11
God’s plans are not always what we think they will be. We sometimes wish everything was smooth, no bumps along the road, but God doesn’t work that way. Without the bumps, we can’t go through what we need to in order to grow and become all He would have us to be. Our trials are our training course for becoming better people. For becoming people of God. People of the promise in Christ.
Theodore Roethke once wrote, “I learn by going where I have to go.” Isn’t that so true? It is as true in everyday decision-making as it is in Christ… as true when it comes to relationships as learning a new skill. We have some things we need to practice more than others. We have some people in our lives that we will always learn from if we are open to it. We learn, Roethke says, by going where we need to. We learn when we allow ourselves to be open to the possibilities God has for us and by doing what we must. We learn from everything that is around us and all we experience… if we allow ourselves to.
When times are tough, this can be even more difficult than normal. There are times we don’t have eyes to see or ears to hear what is happening around us, or when we think our hearts cannot bear anymore of what is happening. Too much change; too fast; too different; too hard… and they trouble us. But perhaps if we see these troubles as ways to allow us to become closer to the One Who hung the stars in the sky like diamonds laid out on a sheet of black velvet; the One Who created us from the dust and His very own breath… perhaps then this paradigm shift will help us become more of Who He wants us to be.
“Swim through your troubles. Run to the promises, they are our Lord’s branches hanging over the water so that His children may take a grip of them,” Samuel Rutherford tells us. God is there for us, ready to reach out and help in every time of need… He is there in the future where we already live, whether we recognize that we do or not. I will be your God... I made you and I will care for you. Isaiah 46:4
What a wonderful promise! God says He will be there for us; as His creation, as those He loves, He has vowed to care for and be with His people. And whether we are going through tough times or great, He will always be there.
We are told in Scripture that He is there for us, and that trouble will not forever last:
Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Ps. 30:5
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. Is. 25:8 We are told these things so that we remember Who is on our side. If we are on His side, we can know He is with us, watching over us, helping us become the people He designed us to be. We will make mistakes; we will have times of weeping; we will have times of pain… but through it all, He is there. He has a plan for us, here in the present future we are in and in the future of the future we will soon be in. and those plans are for our ultimate good. All we must do is trust and believe.
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