Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 is probably one of the top 5 most memorized verses of the Bible amongst professing Christians. Jeremiah 29 is a letter from the prophet Jeremiah to the surviving elders among the Jewish exiles that had been carried off to Babylon. This prophet tells the Jews living there to settle in this foreign land of their captivity, raise their children, seek peace, pray to God, don't listen to those who try to deceive you with lies, and that after 70 years of captivity in Babylon - God will bring them out of captivity and free them to go back to Jerusalem. (And for those non-believers in the truth of the Bible out there: history confirms these prophesies because that's exactly how it happened. Check it out for yourself) 29:11 says, "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 a hope and a future." Verses 12- 14 go on to say, "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord."

As you know by now, I work with a ministry that helps orphans. So I see the orphan day in and day out and then I contemplate verses like this one and ask God, "okay so I believe your Word but could you please explain this one to me? How does that promise apply to the orphan or the child prostitute or the forced child labor slave? In essence... WHAT THE JUNK?!?!" And this conversation as been ongoing between me and God for quite some time now. And then I read verses like Isaiah 45:7 where God says, "I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things." I completely realize that God is not in the least bit surprised when a child is orphaned. He knows. A lot of times, when Christians see evil in the world, I think we just blame sin for those bad things or situations and think that God couldn't possibly have anything to do with it. But God says in Isaiah that it is He who creates disaster - like earthquakes and hurricanes and famines and droughts. The Weather Channel does not control the weather - God does. So what is that about?!?

Lately, I feel like perhaps God is allowing me a bit of clarity in his message and response to my anger and frustration at why are there orphans and a host of other injustices going on in our world at a prevalence that few are willing to acknowledge. I think he is telling me this - "I see it. I know these injustices exist and now so do you. You see it. You are on earth for a reason. You were born for such a time as this. I don't make mistakes. And if you are willing, you have the opportunity to be my hands and feet on earth and go rescue those people- FOR MY GLORY, NOT YOURS. You, the CHURCH, have this opportunity and honestly this biblical command to do something about it. I promised Jeremiah 29:11 to you, to the orphan child, to the child slave, to the child prostitute in Cambodia and in Miami and in Chicago -- and YOU can rescue them and YOU can bring my promises to them." So my next question in this conversation with God has been going like this, "Okay. I am completely ill-equipped here. You're going to have to lead me one step at a time."

A few days ago, I read Proverbs 31:8-9 and felt like God gave it to me - right now, where I'm at, what I see everyday and on top of that - this is a biblical command to both Jews and Christians as it falls in the Old Testament. It reads, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." What does it mean to "defend their rights?" I'm pretty sure that involves A LOT more than just acknowledging that orphans exist - like millions of them worldwide or that millions of CHILDREN are bought and sold for sex against their will everyday. Defense involves force sometimes, action, rescue, help, justice, danger. I don't understand the battles God is fighting around the world or why He set up the world and history the way He has but I think He intended to involve those who pledge allegiance to Him to have something to do with the rescue - don't you?

Your thoughts are more than welcome here