Hope: An Exquisite Design
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.
Jeremiah 29:11 NRSVUE
It’s one of the most incredible promises in the Bible and a favorite verse of many. And why not? What child of God wouldn’t want to be reminded again and again of such a wonderful promise of blessing? Yet, as incredible as those words of promise are, when life becomes real this promise can become a real problem. What’s a promise like that worth when life starts falling apart, when everything starts to go terribly wrong?
In my first parish I mentored a wonderful couple through premarital counseling. After a beautiful wedding and in due time, they became pregnant and were filled with great joy as they prepared for their child’s arrival. But after the transition to the third trimester, mom started having severe headaches and high blood pressure. The doctor admitted her to the hospital with a diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. To save her life, the baby would have to be delivered. Bethany was born very pre-mature. She could literally fit into the palm of my hand. Her father’s wedding ring could slide over her arm with room to spare.
Statistically, she should not have lived; but Bethany was a fighter. Still, there were many times her prognosis was grave at best. Complication set in on various occasions. Finally, after many weeks and months, Bethany was healthy enough to come home. As of today, Bethany has achieved her Master of Divinity – high honors throughout her education, has served in a local church, and is about to re-enter academia with the intention of becoming a college or seminary professor. She still has what my grandfather would have called “deviljha” in her eyes (meaning she is always on the lookout for excitement and surprise) and she is full of energy and spark. But Bethany will deal with cerebral palsy for the rest of her life.
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. For a long time, Bethany’s parents weren’t sure how to respond to this oft quoted-to-them promise from Jeremiah. “Great plans God! Just what kind of future is this? How could there possibly be a plan or hope in the midst of this chaos?” Oh, they still believed in God and that God is good. But the promise … the promise became a wonderful sentiment that seemed to melt in the heat of real life.
I am certain that all of you have been in that place, probably more than once; some of you are there right now. Life throws up. Dreams are dashed. Plans get turned up-side-down. Frankly, it seems like a tornado has gone through and all that’s left is chaos. And the next person that quotes Jeremiah 29:11 to you is going to get slapped.
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. Jeremiah penned those words, not in a season of prosperity, but the exact opposite. Nebuchadnezzar had invaded the land. The king, priests, and many of the people had been taken into exile. For now, he set up his own leadership for those who were left. Soon Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed and most of those left would be killed or exiled, too. A facetious rumor had been spread they’d all be back in a couple of years. In this letter to those exiled God told them the exile will last 70 years, but Israel will return. With an average lifespan of 35 years, two generations would be gone before the promise would come to fruition. It was into that context of gloom and despair that God gave the promise.
A promise that only makes sense when life is good isn’t much of a promise. It is fair to assume that it is the context of difficulty and pain that God intends us to receive this promise as well. James tells us that everything we receive from God is good and perfect and that God does not change (1:17). God’s promise is not invalidated by trials; rather, it takes on its greatest significance in the midst of our trials. That’s because there is something deeper and richer and stronger that we can imagine going on.
As is often the case, the English translations of foreign words lose their color and richness. The Hebrew word translated “plans” is mahashaba, which has the idea of exquisite design. It describes the work of an artist or sculpture. In this promise God is saying that even when everything appears to be collapsing around us, God still has an exquisite design of beauty for our lives. This is why, even though in prison, Paul could say with confidence, “In all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28). God isn’t scraping together some desperate scheme to bail you out of the mess you’re in; God is actually using the mess to create an eternal work of art. You just can’t see it.
Frankenmuth recently held their 2026 Snow Fest. What looked like huge piles of snow were turned into amazing sculptures by the artist. In the same way, God sees something beautiful and exquisite but it “still looks like a heap of snow” to us. The reason can be found in Isaiah where God again uses the word mahashaba: “For my [exquisite designs] are not your [designs], neither are my ways your ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher that the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my [exquisite designs] than your [designs] (Isaiah.55:8-9). God is doing something so incredible, so wonderful, so fantastic that nothing can keep God from accomplishing the plan – the economy can’t, the political climate can’t, loss of a loved one can’t, cancer can’t, heart attacks can’t, violence can’t, addiction can’t. There is not one thing and there are not a billion things taken together that can interfere with God’s exquisite design in those who love God and are called according to God’s purpose.
Our earthly nature wants understanding. But believers are set apart not by whether we know and understand the plan, but by our faith. And that faith is not in a promise, but in the God who gave and stands behind the promise. Our faith is in the God who created all that is; that God is not bound by the creation he has made. Our faith is in the God who chose not to let sin, death, and evil separate us from him; that God made a way for us through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Our faith is in the God continues to reach out in love and forgiveness to all who seek them with all their heart; that God takes up residence in them through the Holy Spirit. Our faith is in a God who does not claim that his ways will always make sense to us only that his words never lie and his plans never fail.
There is a lovely poem I have often used with funerals entitled Life’s Weaving. Perhaps you’ve heard it:
My life is but a weaving, between my God and me;
I may not choose the colors – He knows what they should be.
For He can view the pattern upon the upper side;
While I can see it only on this, the under side.
Sometimes He weaves sorrow, which seems strange to me.
But I will trust His judgment and work on faithfully.
‘Tis He who fills the shuttle; He knows what is best.
So I shall weave in earnest and leave to Him the rest.
At last, when life is ended, with Him I shall abide.
Then I may view the pattern upon the upper side.
Then I shall know the reason why pain and joys entwined
Was woven in the fabric of life that God designed.
The poem suggests that the exquisite design God is creating can only be fully appreciated after this earthly life is over. Perhaps. But if we look closely, we might just see and experience the wonder and goodness of God’s plan even in the chaos of this life. In the midst of all the difficulties of Bethany’s birth, the complications that threatened Bethany’s life, and the hurdles she continues to face, it was and can be tough to hang onto the promise that God has an exquisite design for her and her family all in this. Talk to Bethany or her parents today and they will tell you with an emphatic “Yes!” that God does. Bethany’s life already gives evidence of God’s exquisite design. She/they look forward with anticipation to what God is going to do next.
I know the exquisite design I have for you, says the Lord, the exquisite designs for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
On the Journey with You,
DS John
Bethany gave permission to use her story.