Getting There from Here

For 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)

God is not mad at you. He has planned a future and a hope for you, and Jesus came so that you could enter into it — that you might have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). He was not talking just about heaven, but about heaven on earth.

You might look around at your current situation and think, “But how can I ever get there from here.” You may not see the way, and you may even think that there is no way.

The truth is that you and I cannot get there on our own. But that is only half of the truth; the other half is that God not only knows the way, but if we will trust in Him, He will lift us out of were we are and bring us into the wonderful future and hope that He has planned for us from the beginning.

I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;
I will lead them in paths they have not known.
I will make darkness light before them,
And crooked places straight.
These things I will do for them,
And not forsake them.

(Isaiah 42:16)

He raises the poor out of the dust,
And lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
That He may seat him with princes —
With the princes of His people.

(Psalm 113:7-8)

Paul tells us that God is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think” according to His power at work in us (Ephesians 3:20). The NIV has it as “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Often, we let our current situation limit our thinking and our imagination. But God’s thoughts are not limited at all, and if we ask, He will share His thoughts with us by His Word and the Holy Spirit. That is what Paul prayed for the Ephesians, that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so they could realize the joyful anticipation of what God calls us to, to know the riches of the inheritance He has placed in us, and to understand the greatness of His power toward us who believe (Ephesians 1:15-20).

God has a plan and a future for each one of us. We do not know how to get there from here, but God does, and that is all that matters. Our job is to believe His promise, receive His wisdom and revelation, and to ask and imagine — in the name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen!