Jeremiah 29:11- “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.” –
Warning: Needed to Survive
We need many things to survive.
We need air. Just over 3 minutes without it starts our body into a spiral.
We require water. After about three days, the same destructive tendencies set in.
We require sleep. We are now told that sleep deprivation can create the environment for such dreaded conditions as dementia.
But there’s one more, one not physical but just as essential to human survival. We all need hope.
Take a person’s hope away, and they become hopeless. Many choose to end their lives rather than live with hopelessness.
God knew that. He wanted to make sure hope stayed alive, even in the worst of circumstances.
In Judah, the Babylonian conquerors were coming. It would spell the destruction of the beloved temple and the captivity of most. Homes would be lost, and freedom surrendered. Jerusalem would become a distant memory.
Amid this hopeless situation, God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 32 to buy a piece of property. Assemble the witnesses to the transaction. Get a deed for it and make sure everyone knows you paid for it.
It was a tangible way to show that one day, they would return, one day, they would have their freedom, and one day they would again plant vineyards.
It was the sign of hope.
The story is told of a man, aged 75, who planted several small fruit trees. His son said, “you are quite an optimist.” He knew his father would never eat the fruit of those trees, yet he planted them anyway.
A few years later, the man died.
When his son went back to the homestead, he had his choice. He could go to the cemetery on the top of the hill and weep over the grave. Or he could go to the orchard to eat of the trees of the man who believed in hope.
Today, what can you do to sow hope in your life and the lives of others?
-Robert G. Taylor
robertgtaylor.com
