Got Plans?

This will probably be shorter than usual. Partly because I’m not preaching this weekend, and partly because Maddie have the place to ourselves. La Donna is off at a UMW Spiritual Retreat, the first for the new Indiana Conference. And Rhys is in Elkhart for an overnight debate meet. Which leaves just Maddie and me. And she’s got plans.

Plans are good, I like plans. Or at least I like them when they coincide with what I wanted to do anyway. Or with something I would enjoy doing had I thought of it. But sometimes Maddie’s plans don’t interest me all that much. Not always, and today we’ve worked out some compromises. But often we rebel against someone else’s plans. We like being in charge of our own destiny. We like being the decision makers of our own lives. In fact we would have trouble with the idea that someone else is making plans for our lives. We can’t think of anything worse than arranged marriages, for example, or indentured service. We would rebel against that, we would rise up in arms. We would charge the perpetrators with oppression, or worse. It is in our cultural make up to determine our own direction.

Which makes me wonder how we hear our scripture for this weekend. It seems to counter our natural, or at least cultural tendency. Or am I misreading something here? Take a look.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, ⁵ "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." ⁶ Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." ⁷ But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD." ⁹ Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

Got plans? Here is the question, is this just for Jeremiah, or is it for all of us? Does God indeed have our lives planned out for us from conception? Or before conception - depending on how you read verse 4? Is this irrefutable proof of predestination? Or are we missing something here?

Jeremiah seems stuck, to be honest. And I’m pretty sure that is how he feels about it. He is called the weeping prophet, because on his days off he spends time running around saying "I wish I had never been born!" He seems to hate his calling. He wishes he could unload it, and given the chance he would. Except that he says that when he tried, he couldn’t. It was a part of him, it was a "fire shut up in his bones" when he tried be silent. It was what he was made for, and even though he didn’t like it, he had to do it.

Seems like a trap. On the other hand, it seems like a gift. I know, talking out of both sides of my mouth there. But I have to confess, I know what it is to do something that you seem born to do. I was called the preacher boy by my grandfather before I was sure that was what I was going to do. When the time came to decide, it didn’t seem like much of a decision. Everyone around me seemed to spend a lot of time wondering, deciding, thinking about what they would do when they grew up. I never worried about it much. It was just a part of me.

I see things in my kids. I can’t say exactly what they are going to be doing to make a living in the years ahead (unless someone comes up with "professional shopper" as a career - Maddie would be all over that in a moment!), but I have a pretty good idea of how they are going to do it. I know their personalities and inclinations. I know their preferences and their leanings. So, am I limiting them? Not at all, I just know them. And I love them. That gives insight and a certain amount of wisdom when it comes to those we love.

Not complete, I’ll admit that. I didn’t know them before conception. I didn’t know them before they were born. But then, I’m not God. I want to know them like that, I want to love them like that. But I’m not there yet. A infinitesimal bit like that, but not there yet. So, I ask again, am I limiting them?

Maybe the point is not that God forced Jeremiah into something against Jeremiah’s will, but that God knew Jeremiah so well, loved Jeremiah so much that he knew what he was going to do and who Jeremiah was going to be. And God told him. Maybe that was the difficult part. Maybe knowing is what makes it difficult.

I’ve been like Jeremiah at times, I have to confess. I have complained about the lot that God has given me. Wished I could work in a factory tightening bolts and not trying to deal with people, wished I could herd cats rather than try to exhort people, something easy. I understand the struggle. But I also understand the passion. While they’ve never complained to me, I’m sure any associate pastor I’ve worked with would like to preach more. But I have a hard time stepping aside. I enjoy a weekend off every now and then, but there is also a desire to be up there. It is hard to keep it in sometimes.

Was I trapped? Tricked into doing what it is that I do? Were you? No, definitely not. But I was shaped into what I am and what I do by a God who works through parents and teachers and examples and friends to make me and you what we are. Take comfort in that. Even when we aren’t as sure as Jeremiah that this is where God wants us to be. Take comfort in the faith that tells us God has plans, God gives gifts, God blesses us with abilities and inclinations and when we follow them, we are usually doing what God wants us to do. Shaped to serve.

And sometimes those who shape are smaller and less patient. Gotta go!

Shalom,

Derek