I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jer. 29:11
But at the core of the new heart you’ve given us in Jesus, that’s not what we really want. We don’t really want to exchange places with you—making us the potter and you the clay. We trust you and we love you, Father. You gave Jesus to us and for us. Of course, you’ll give us everything else we truly need (Rom. 8:32).
It’s just that sometimes your plan includes things that, in the moment, don’t feel like they’re for our welfare. There are stretches when it seems like you answer our prayers with a disproportionate amount of “No’s” to “Yes’s”—as though the only good answer to one of our prayers is “Yes!”
Healing doesn’t come quick enough, and the next bit of hard news comes too soon. Kids struggle, and cars break down; furnaces go kaput, and good friends move on. Politics make life crazy, and stories of abuse turn our stomachs. Instead of “grace upon grace,” life in our world often feels like “harm upon harm” and “spin upon spin.”
