01 February 2010 Devotion for Today "Time-Flowing Like a River" Jeremiah 29:8-14

Monday, February 01, 2010

4:19 PM

Where did all those years go? On my birthday today I have had the overwhelming realization that I am staring down the realization that a half-century of life has passed me by and I am thinking, "Where did all the time go?" For the first time in my life I have the feeling that- unless I will live to be 100 years old, more years are behind me than are in front of me. No longer do I feel the luxury (if I ever did) that I am going to live forever; in heaven, certainly, but not on the earth. All day long the haunting stream of music has reverberated in my mind these words from the Alan Parson's Project:

 
 

Time flowing like a river, Time beckoning me.

Who knows when we shall meet again, if ever

But time, keeps flowing like a river, to the sea.

(Time, The Alan Parsons Project, 1980)

 
 

Indeed time does go on flowing like a river, but not without end and not without purpose. This river may have hit a new bend and with different landscape, but its still flowing and probably deeper than its ever been before.

 
 

Some years ago I felt led to choose as a life verse contained in this passage in Jeremiah 29:

 
 

^{8 Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD.}

 10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 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 hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

(Jeremiah 29:8-14)

 
 

God is telling his people that He intends to keep them in captivity following their exile in Babylon. He wanted them to settle down, build houses, have children, and focus on living life- but not as they had before. He says don't listen to the ones who will encourage His people to rebel or to forget about God. And even though the heartache and memories of Jerusalem haunt them, God says they will not abide there forever. A new day is coming for which they can have hope and look forward:

 
 

"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 hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

 
 

I chose this verse as my life verse in 1980. At the age of twenty I saw the world pretty much the way I see it now, but with this one difference. I see my own purpose getting clearer and brighter with each passing day. As I see my hair turning grayer and hearing more people call me "sir" than I remember hearing before, I know that my purpose in life has not passed me by- its only just beginning. Its even more true now than it was when I started to float downstream in this river called life.

 
 

I spent this day recounting the joys and blessings God has given me: a wonderful wife and now three grown children, and perhaps happier and richer than I've ever been- not with money, to be sure, but with life. Someone not long ago told me that "its all downhill after this." Certainly my health will become more of an issue than its ever been. Financial concerns may threaten on the shores. But I don't need to be afraid of the future as long as God is with me. As He was with me thirty years ago, He is with me now with plans to give me a future and a hope.

 
 

Do you feel yourself going downstream at times? It is not without purpose as you do. Even though time may flow like a river, make that river deeper. Enjoy the ride, and experience with joy all the blessings of what God has for you.

 
 

Have a blessed day!