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. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me,
I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your
heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord.
Can you think of a time when someone made a promise to you? Was the
promise fulfilled or was it broken? Did your actions in response to that promise require a
"leap-of-faith?"
Jeremiah, speaking to the captives in Babylon, instructs them to move
ahead with their lives in spite of their enslavement and to pray for the Babylonians even
though they worshipped pagan gods. Jeremiah reminds them of the promise that they will
always have God’s presence, the privilege of prayer, and God’s grace. God’s
promise did not, however, include a guarantee to anyone for earthly security, which some
of the captives no doubt craved, but rather a promise for a future of hope.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, who, like Jeremiah,
believed God’s promise. In the 1940s, during WW II, Bonhoeffer publicly repudiated
the Nazis and was eventually hanged for his actions against them. From his prison cell,
where he continued to minister to his fellow prisoners, Bonhoeffer remained steadfast in
his faith, believing God’s promise. He recalled some words of Jeremiah and said: "And
seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. For behold, I will bring evil upon
all flesh; but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
I cannot get away from Jeremiah 45. "
Bonhoeffer called this "costly discipleship." He had no
guarantee for earthly security, but he found hope in God’s promise, even when facing
certain death. He knew that when he sought God, God would be with him and give him a
future of hope.
If you had been a prisoner in Nazi Germany, how might you have
responded to God’s promise? During this season of Lent, how will you respond to
God’s promise that he will be with you, hear you, and find you?
Almighty God, we believe your promises. Be with us now. Hear us.
Let us find you.
