“For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration— “plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
I landed my first job as a salesman when I was in my late twenties.
One of the unavoidable dimensions of my new job was air travel. Not a complete novice about air travel, I still had no idea of the challenge that lay ahead. There were customers from Seattle to Miami, San Diego to Barrington, Rhode Island. So I sat down with my assistant and mapped out my first sales trip. A few days later, there was a bulging folder from a local travel agent sitting on my desk. Because this was in the 1970s, electronic boarding passes hadn’t yet been invented, so the fat folder was filled with airplane tickets, and I was all set to go.
Before leaving for this trip, I had my weekly appointment with my boss, Bill Slemp.
A man at the opposite end of his career, Bill had been a successful executive with several major corporations. When I walked into his office for our meeting, he was doing something that fascinated me. Spread out on his small conference table were a bunch of airline tickets, his personal calendar, and a typed itinerary. A veteran of hundreds of sales trips, Bill Slemp was going through his itinerary, meticulously check- ing the accuracy of every single plane ticket, every rental car and hotel reservation. How needless, I remember thinking, to go over all that stuff so carefully. Doesn’t he trust his travel agent? Doesn’t he think his assistant can get it right? A week later I was on my own first sales trip.
More than forty years and almost two thousand business trips later, my business associates will tell you that I never leave for a trip without carefully reading through my reservations, my itinerary, and my calendar, making certain that everything is correct. From personal experience, Bill Slemp knew the frustration of getting messed up a few states from home, doing everything he possibly could to avoid it. “I’m sorry, sir. I have no reservation in that name.” “What do you mean, ‘Welcome to Detroit’?” Ugh.
The next time you have an appointment with your heavenly Father, you may inadvertently walk in on Him with things covering His conference table. If you look closely, He may have the events of your life spread out like the airline tickets and itineraries on Bill’s table.
Now take another look at today’s text. The plan God is poring over for His people was—and is—a good plan. Despite their seventy-year exile, it was not designed for evil. It was not a plan to harm them. God’s painstaking event-by-event strategy did include His severe punishment for their waywardness. However, it also included hope for their future.
Although what may be happening to you right now may feel more like a computer error than God’s plan—and you have a seven-minute layover at DFW to get two con- courses over—it’s not. God is going over every detail of your tomorrows. His gracious promise is that His plans are for your well-being.
God through Jeremiah tells us to “call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you” (v. 12). I’d encourage you to do this right now. There isn’t a more flawless travel agent in the heavens. You can trust Him to write your story.