GOD´S MATH

Jeremiah 29:1 + 1 = Jeremiah 29:11

Your circumstances + a God who loves you = a promising future

This is what Jeremiah 29:1 says:

"Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders,

priests, prophets, and all the people

who had been exiled to Babylon."

The context? The king, the queen mother, and all Jewish officials were deported from Jerusalem to Babylon. This exile lasted 70 years. Can you imagine being forced to leave everything you know and be away from your homeland for 70 years? After the appointed time, the Jews returned to Jerusalem and it was a time of restoration, fulfilling many Old Testament prophecies.

“Babel” means “confusion,” and this is where the city of Babylon gets its name. In other words, the Jews were forcibly taken from their beloved land to a city of confusion and much idolatry. When they returned to their land there was a great revival. Paradoxically, their faith was stronger. God never abandon them. Even during the exile, He spoke to them through the prophet Jeremiah, keeping them aware of His plans. Sustaining them supernaturally.

During our life, we may never experience an exile, like the one described in the book of Jeremiah. However, sometimes we feel lost in a land of disappointment and hopelessness. Things do not always happen as we plan them or dream them. This can be disorienting. It can bring confusion. Additionally, the enemy uses the constant bombardment of information on the media to fuel our fear and disorient us. Trying to make us believe that all is lost.

Just like a ballet dancer who is taught to look for a fixed point on the wall as a reference for when she makes her turns, we must fix our eyes on the only one who can give us peace in the midst of chaos.

Look what happens when you add a number 1 to Jeremiah 29:1: you will get an unshakable promise of hope in Jeremiah 29:11:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.

“They are plans for good and not for disaster,

to give you a future and a hope.”

Just as when we add the number one to Jeremiah 29:1 and find an invitation from God to have hope; the same way, when we invite God into our lives, He gives us hope during chaos.

No matter what we are going through or what is happening in the world. He who is the Alpha and the Omega, who is the Lord Almighty reminds us that he has plans for us and plans for his beloved land: Israel. These plans are not like ours, which can be affected by any circumstance. His are immovable and eternal. He looks at us with immeasurable love and speaks peace to our soul. He reminds us that His plans prevail and that they are plans for good and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope.

In God's mathematics, when we include Him in our life, the blessing is multiplied and the confusion disappears.

© Astrid Gale

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