The Truth about the Future
"I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says the Lord, "thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." —Jeremiah 29:11
Jeremiah 29:11 stands as proof that God has a wonderful future in store for us. That word future used in Jeremiah 29:11 can be translated as an "expected end." Another translation could say "things hoped for" or "outcome."
Now at this moment, I may not know what God has in mind for me. But He knows. The way God understands the future and how we understand the future is much like an artist's understanding of a blank canvas and our understanding of a blank canvas. The artist looks at the white canvas and paces back and forth. He takes out a pencil and draws a couple of broad strokes and then looks at it again.
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Then we walk up and say, "What is that?" He tells us and we respond, "Well, it doesn't look like that to us."
But the artist confidently remarks, "It's coming. It's a work in progress. I have a vision, a plan." The artist is thinking about the end result even though he has only drawn a couple of seemingly meaningless strokes.
We often times look at our unfinished lives in the same way we might look at a blank canvas. Things may not be going as expected. Life is not progressing according to our schedules. So we say, "The Lord must have forgotten about me. The Lord has abandoned me. It's over with." No. The Lord has a vision for your life. He has a plan. You are a work in progress. You are under construction. God is not finished with you yet.
We merely see the beginning. God sees the end from the beginning. Take heart. We see a blank canvas. God sees a masterpiece in progress.
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