Once when my nephew Jim was showing me his back yard vegetable garden I asked him, “When you’re planting in the spring, are you thinking about what you’re going to plant next year?” He answered simply, “Always!” I smiled because my father, his grandfather, did the same. He would come in from planting radishes and say, “ Next year I’m going to put up bean poles in that spot, and we’ll have green beans.” We loved the radishes and the next year we loved the green beans, but I wondered why it happened that way. Both of them had fruitful gardens for years.

In the Bible God makes it clear that He has plans for His people for years into the future. He tells them that regardless of where they find themselves, even in exile in Babylon, He is still their God: “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. (Jeremiah 29:5 and 11).

These famous words have been a comfort and a stay for generations of believes who have felt disconnected from the life and future they had expected to live, and for those launching into an unknown future adventure.

Though their external circumstances were radically different from those in their home in Israel, God’s people received the all important message of reassurance that their invisible God was actually still with them. The rock upon which they had built their lives was unmoved by their exile, and their relationship would grow ever deeper as they discovered more and more of God’s character.

Generations earlier , while they had lived in the Holy Land, David had written, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. (Ps.118:) When Jeremiah sent his message from God it resonated as the God they knew and they were able to believe in their “Rock”.

Jesus confronting the Pharisees quoted this passage in reference to Himself. (Mark 12:10), and Peter repeats it in his letter (I Peter 2:6), confirming that Jesus Himself is the Rock. He goes further: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (I Peter 2: 9)

Dad and Jim both trusted that there would be another year, another chance to grow another crop and that it would be good. God tells us that in His Kingdom that will always be true.

Love in Him,

Prue