Jeremiah 29:11 – "’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.’"

For many, life is filled with anxiety these days.

Whether you are wondering if you’ll have a job next week in the midst of budget cuts and a declining economy, or you are awaiting the arrival of a new baby any day now, or you are wondering what the future will look like as you embark on a new life- there can be so many questions, so many sleepless nights, so many hectic days.

A woman was walking her dog, just as she does everyday, stopping to talk to neighbors along the way.  She was asked how she was doing and replied that she was doing as well as she could expect.  "With all the craziness and uncertainty going on in the country right now, just about everybody is doing about as well as can be expected," said one neighbor.  "I just don’t worry about any of that stuff," she said as she patted her dog on the head, "God’s got everything under control- what happens is meant to be."

It’s hard to leave life in the hands of God.  As we lose more and more control over our futures, subject to a failing economy, political upheavel unseen since the 60′s, 46 million Americans on food stamps, chronic real unemployment as high as 23% in some states, anxiety has a grip on so many people. 

God knows.  Here in this passage, the Hebrew word for "I know" expresses an unfathomable depth of understanding, compassion, and love.  God knows your hopes, He knows your dreams, He knows what you need, He knows your heart’s desire.  God knows what troubles you, what worries you, and what burdens you.

He has a promise:

"I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

When things are going so well, we don’t always believe that God has such great plans for us.  Whether in waters of a tsunami, or the eye of a tornado, God has plans to give you hope and a future even if you aren’t so sure whether or not He’s even there with you.

When we look back on these troubling times, we will see that God was working out our future for us, his great vision for us, even then.

"Dad, what should I do?" – What young man hasn’t asked that question?  Sometimes the answer is elusive- when you’re asking what you should do with your life- and sometimes the answer is easy- when you’re asking how to use a tool or fix something.

The world offers all kinds of wisdom.  Take the fortune cookie, or the horoscope- full of advice- some would say downright sage advice.  "You will meet somebody influential today."  "Happiness rests in you."  "If you can see it, you can be it."

But really, is this the kind of wisdom we desire when we face life’s toughest times, when we struggle with our toughest decisions, or when life and death hangs in the balance?

Solomon once prayed a prayer for wisdom.  God told Solomon he could ask for anything he wanted and it would be granted him.  He didn’t ask for absolute power, untold wealth, or good luck.  Solomon asked for wisdom.

The word wisdom in Hebrew means "to be made wise."  Wisdom is not something that we have or do, it is something that is done to us, given to us by God.  In Greek the word is "sophia"- a supreme intelligence that belongs to God. 

Wisdom isn’t about book learning- but without God’s wisdom, we would know very little about science, math, language, and life. 

Paul spoke alot about wisdom.  In Romans 11:33 he says,

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!"

The Bible says that the wisdom of this age is foolishness to God.

In 1 Corinthians 1:21, Paul writes,

"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

So many of the things of this world we count as wisdom become foolishness as we stand before the rugged cross of Christ.  That simple message of the Gospel is at the very heart of God’s wisdom.  When we pray to God for wisdom, we are asking Him to bless us with that unfathomable wisdom that comes from knowing Christ.

To have this wisdom is to know His grace- it is to know forgiveness- it is to know that no matter what happens or how things seem, we stand before Christ- sometimes on shakey ground as the world tosses and turns around us- but in the wisdom that Christ’s love and sacrifice for us on the cross is constant and unshakeable no matter what difficulty may come our way.

When we pray for Wisdom, we embrace God’s unconditional love for us and the salvation we have only in Christ- wisdom not found in fortune cookies, but only in the cross.

John 14:26 – "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

The simplest thing can provoke the most powerful of memories. The aroma of baking bread can remind you of family dinners around the table. A single red rose can remind you of your first love. The sound of a baby crying can raise images of those wonderful years when your own children were just little ones.

Not all memories are good, though. The empty chair at the table can remind you of that day your wife or husband died. The check-out lady at the corner store can remind you of a friend you once betrayed. The sound of a familiar song can remind you of an impetuous youth.

The Christian story is one of both good memories and bad, failures and triumphs, persecutions and unity, betrayal and loyalty, healings and deaths. The very heart of salvation rests in Jesus Christ who died on a Friday and rose again from the dead 3 days later. In the context of lives characterized by contradiction, the human heart finds it difficult to understand the Gospel. This is why we need the Holy Spirit.

Why do bad things happen to good people? If God really loves us, why does he allow suffering? If we can just ask for forgiveness when we sin, then why even try to eliminate sin in our lives?

There are so many questions like these that confront God’s faithful every day, whether they originate from our own hearts, or are challenges to our faith made by others.

Jesus knew this would be the case. He knew that there were some things that the disciples, and we, would have a hard time understanding. He knew that we would forget what he taught us, and so he promises the Holy Spirit.

In Luther’s Small Catechism we learn with clarity what the gift of the Holy Spirit means for us.

"I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true."

During troubling times, we can draw strength from Christ’s wonderful promise of the Holy Spirit.

Darkness was an apt way to describe the lives of those who did not follow Jesus because everybody had an experience with it. There was no electricity, and only the wealthy could afford lamps. Marauders often lied in wait in the darkness, because a rich traveler would most certainly have a lot of money with him on his journey. Sometimes poor people had to clamor in the darkness if for some reason they had to travel unexpectedly from town to town.

The darkness Jesus describes is the complete and total absence of light. Imagine camping in the woods on an overcast night, when clouds cover the stars and the moon. Even with your eyes wide open, you can’t see your hand in front of your face without a flashlight. Imagine this kind of darkness. Or you get up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water, and stub your toe on the door frame as you reach for the light switch. I remember a time when I was walking in the darkness on a ranch in Texas, trying to get to the ranch house. The darkness was so deep, it seemed it took me forever to gain ground. When the sun rose the next morning, and I saw where I was walking, I realized that if I hadn’t turned down a path when I did, I would have ended up walking right into a 30 foot deep rock pit. 

Horrible things can happen in the darkness. Whether it is the real darkness of a pitch black night, or a dark night of the soul, the many perils and tragedies that can befall us can only be dispelled by Jesus Christ.

But bad things still happen to good people. Bad things happen to Christians. This reality pushes us to understand what Jesus really means when he says "I am the light of the world" and what it means to say that Christ dispels this darkness.  It is a horribly dark place to live- the idea that the tragedies and circumstances of life are the indicators of God’s waning favor. Equally dark is the idea that good things happen when you have earned a sufficient amount of God’s grace to achieve an award. The darkness Christ speaks of here- in Greek the word is skotos- means ignorance of divine things, spiritual blindness. It is spiritual blindness that provokes in us the belief that heaven can be achieved by us, or that our wealth proves we are favored by God while the poor man must not be, or that because we have achieved in this life we also have achieved our salvation in the next. The earthly and temporal concerns we human beings have are all transcended by the light of Christ, and salvation is not bartered with dollars and cents, good works and pious deeds. It takes God incarnate, Jesus Christ, hanging on the cross and rising again, to win our salvation.

The light Christ talks about here is not just one that dispels darkness, but the Greek refers to salvation made manifest. John begins his Gospel talking about Jesus, "in the beginning was the Word" and "The Word was made flesh." Jesus Christ, the light of the world, is salvation made fully manifest, made real, God in human flesh. The incarnation of Christ dispels the shadows of personal failure and tragedy, and of triumphs and achievements because under the law they are never enough.  Under the law, the wages of sin is death, but in Christ we have new life. 

Christ is enough.  In fact, He’s all we need- rendering our failures, tragedies, good works, and triumphs irrelevant in the grand scheme of life and salvation in the most freeing way.

That is where real life rests. It is the freedom of the Gospel- a light shining in the darkness- with Christ our ever-present companion on this journey of faith.

You wouldn’t imagine just by reading this passage that this is one of the most amazing promises we find in scripture. The meaning of this passage is unlocked by the Hebrew language it was written in. What did the psalmist mean when he wrote that God instructs, teaches, counsels and watches over us?

To instruct means to give insight and wisdom, to instill prudence and circumspection, and to do so in such a way to make a person successful and prosperous.   Not successful or prosperous as the world measures it, but as God measures the soul.

The word for teach here is related to shooting arrows, to throwing, to casting, to propelling out into the world, to pour water or to rain. There’s a poetic image here of an empty vessel being filled up with a driving rain. The knowledge God imparts quenches the earth and soil, it causes growth, and is as abundant as the numerous raindrops that fall during a rainstorm. God’s teaching makes us sharp like an arrow, and it is not teaching for teaching’s sake, but it is with a purpose. His wisdom drives to the depths of our souls much like an arrow pierces the heart or raindrops drive to the depths of the earth.  God teaches us and propels us out into the world with a focus and purpose, aimed and pointed like the tip of an arrow.

God Counsels us. The Hebrew word here relates to purpose and a plan. God has a purpose and a plan for us, but here he counsels with us. We are not just cogs in the universe, but we have a say in our future, in God’s purpose and plan for us.

God watches over us. Literally it says that God has His eye on us. This certainly can be a physical eye he has on us, but figuratively the word means a spiritual eye. God knows and sees our soul. The full meaning of the word for eye- for having an eye on us- is related to a fountain or spring. This is poetic language. The eye that God has on us is the source of every blessing- a deep fount of power and strength. We cannot understand or know it’s depth.   In much the same way, we say that the eyes are a window to the soul. 

And finally, God teaches us and instructs us in the way in which we should go. The "way" is our journey, our course of life, moral character, our manner of living.

To "go" means both to live and to die. God’s promise for us is for all of our lives- in our living and in our dying. His eye is on us. He sends out into the world with a focus, a purpose, in wisdom and circumspection, with an abundance of soul and a prosperity as deep and unfathomable as looking into the eye of God.

What a promise of grace when we face difficult times and tough decisions and choices.

Just another one of God’s amazing promises for troubled times.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

God seemed so far from Dan. He had struggled in recent years to find purpose in his life, floating from job to job hoping to discover his true calling. Contemplating the New Year he realized that the year gone by was full of trials and difficulties, setbacks and failures. He also realized that he had not been to Church in years and he longed and hoped to recapture the faith of his youth.

Dan prayed that God would bless him in the New Year, but even prayer was difficult to do. He gave up on God a long time ago because he decided he wanted to live a little. Dan lived more than a little.

A never ending series of relationships, one night stands, drinking, smoking, club hopping, and sleeping in on Sunday morning consumed his life. So much so, he wondered how he could ever "draw near to God" again.

Years ticked away, and after every failure or crisis Dan promised himself that he would get back to God and Church, but never did.

We can finish the story ourselves if we want. It could be that Dan never goes back to church, that he spends the rest of his life trying to fill his deep spiritual emptiness until the day he doesn’t wake up again- until there are no more tomorrows.

Or, Dan could answer the call of the Holy Spirit to come nearer to God. He could take that first step into the sanctuary and let God speak to him through worship and preaching. After a while of becoming used to the idea that God never left him, he might become a church member again, meet the woman that would become his wife, discover a calling to work with disadvantaged youth, start a family of his own, watch his children grow up, and grow old and grey with his wife. He would end his life as a pillar of the community and his church.

Sure there are other endings to this story. We don’t know exactly for sure the ways that God may bless us when we re-commit our lives to him, but we know for sure where life’s dark and dangerous paths end.

God says, "Come near to me and I will come near to you." It sounds so hard. It seems like an impossible task placed before us in some seasons of life. But too often we fail to realize that God has already taken the first step. He stretches out his hand to us with this invitation and promises that he will be there when we are ready to take his hand. In these troubling times, though taking that first step back to a life of faith is not easy, the reality is that the alternative is more terrifying than we can imagine.

Just as surely as God is mighty, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain when we accept His call to come near to Him.

But not a hair of your head will perish.

This was Christ’s promise to his disciples- and also to us- but what does it mean? Christians did perish, in horrific ways under Roman persecution. Today in places all over the world, Christians continue to be killed and persecuted because of their faith. Even in America, depending on where you live in the country, symbols of Christ are banned from the public square, Christians are expected to perform duties in their jobs that may contradict their Christian faith and morals, and especially in the sectors of social services, education, and government Christians are often at a disadvantage in the hiring process because they are "suspect" in an age of relativism and humanism. Christians do pay a price, though often small, for their faith.

At first sight we imagine that we are invincible, that we can’t be harmed, that God protects us, but even Jesus foretold the dangers that await the believer.

The phrase itself has a long history. The word used for "hair" here in the Greek is from trigos- the word also used for goat’s hair- which appeared very similar in growth, texture, length and "style" to human hair. In fact, tragos is the Greek word for goat, and we see a long history of the goat in the scriptural record. Goats were the first animals to be domesticated in human history. Many laws were established about the goat, and many passages were written regarding the sacrafice of goats. In Leviticus 16, the tradition of the "scape goat" was recorded. The high priest placed all the sins of the people on the head of a goat without blemish and sent it out into the wilderness. With the goat went all the sins of the people- a rite of forgiveness that became known as the "day of atonement." It came to be understood that divine power rest in the hair and on the head of the scape-goat.

Take a look too at the vow of the Nazarite, who never cut his hair except as a rite of atonement for sin. We think of the Nazarite Samson who believed that his power was in his hair, or of John the Baptist who took the Nazarene vow and Baptized others for the Forgiveness of sins. We remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because not a hair of their head was harmed in the fiery furnace.

This phrase, "not a hair of your head will perish," was a figure of speech that reminds us that we have been redeemed, our salvation has been established, and that our power as children of God is derived from faith and trust in this knowledge.

Jesus didn’t promise his disciples that they would never meet harm or hurt. What he promised was that no matter what happened, they were redeemed- they were atoned for- that their power and strength comes from God.  No persecution, no bloody death, no trial or tribulation can take this away from the Christian, no matter how much Men may hate us because of Christ.

Sean looked up in terror. He had only stopped to talk to a friend he met for just a moment, letting go of his son’s hand to gesture as he spoke. In what seemed just a minute, Sean’s son Micah was nowhere to be found. The crush of holiday shoppers at the mega-mall was overwhelming. It was loud with constant commotion, and there was no way, thought Sean, he would ever find his boy in all that.

He immediately and frantically started calling out Micah’s name, walking in and out of pockets of people, trying to see if he could find his son. He became emotional, imagining how frightened the 5 year old must be, afraid of what could happen. Would somebody take him away? Would he be on the 5 o’clock news? Why didn’t he just listen to his dad and stay right there? How would he ever explain this to his wife? Sean found a security guard and impatiently explained what happened, begging for help to find Micah.

Ten minutes passed, and still no sign of the boy. While the guard squawked on his walkie to get help to watch for the boy, Sean took a minute to stand in a quiet spot to just pray. He just closed his eyes, his fists clenched at his sides, and spoke with God- a simple request to keep his boy safe until he could be found. A tear began to roll down Sean’s cheek as he faced a wall. Nobody would have known that he was there talking to God.

Ten More Minutes.

There was still no sign. The guard asked Sean to stay where he was, and the security team fanned out on the floor to search, looking in stores, bathrooms, and hallways. A few minutes later, what was really an emotional eternity, the first guard brought the boy to his father. You could even say that Micah was delivered to his father that day. Micah was found in the candy store. Sean hugged his son, said a prayer of thanks that he was back safely, scolded him and the two headed home, ending their Christmas shopping trip early.

God promises he will deliver us. Micah was delivered out of harm’s way and back into the safety of his father’s arms. In the Greek Language, the word deliver means "to give one to someone as his own- as an object of his saving care; to give one to someone to whom he already belonged."

While we are lost, clamoring through life for a glimpse of the divine, Jesus Christ died on the cross to deliver us.   Luther said Jesus delivers us from sin, death, and the devil. Even more powerful is who it is Jesus delivers us to. In faith, by the cross, we are given to our heavenly Father as His own, as the objects of His saving care. Really, Jesus delivers us back to God- to whom we already belonged.

During those difficult times in life, those times that can seem like a spiritual and emotional eternity, we can take great comfort and solace in God’s promise of deliverance. Even in the midst of the most troubling times, let our hearts not be troubled. We can call on God in the day of trouble because already we know we are God’s. It is to Him we belong and there is great peace and safety in the arms of our Heavenly Father.

Joan sat with her three children at the dinner table to plates of macaroni and cheese. In the midst of the sounds of giggling, laughing, and eating she stared out the window, barely touching her own plate. There was no food in the house, no bread or eggs or meat. There was only a little milk left.

Joan worked for years as a quality assurance specialist at a fortune 100 company, but shortly after the economy tanked, she lost her job. That was a year ago, she thought to herself, and still no luck at finding employment. For Joan, her job was more than just work- it was what put food on the table, what paid for daycare, what bought clothes, what kept her children happy and healthy. In her heart she felt like there was no future since her husband died- like she and her children were doomed to a life of mac and cheese dinners. Joan had these discouraging moments and thoughts from time to time.

Her deep thoughts were broken by her four year old boy. "MMMM Dee-lisis!" A smile broke out across her face. Her little boy was almost done with his dinner. The discouragement that overtook Joan for a moment, and the fear of what tomorrow would bring- would it ever get better- was displaced by the joy of a little boy.

Joan realized that her son trusted in something that she often forgot. He knew that his mother would always be with him, would never leave him, and would always love him. He trusted this without a doubt. For a child, hardships and trials are anchored in this perspective. Joan, and all of us too, can cast fear and discouragement aside because we know that God – our heavenly father- will never leave us or forsake us.

We may not always have a lot of food, but we’ll have enough. We may not see a bright future, but we know God is right there with us whatever might happen. The times might be dark, but God stands with us in the darkness. In this promise we are freed to enjoy with thankfulness and deeper appreciation all that we do have despite the things we don’t.

All he wanted was to go back home.  John was on his 3rd tour of duty in Iraq.  He re-enlisted after his first tour ended, because he believes in what he is fighting for.  He loved his job, really.  Helping children and widows, keeping people safe, doing his small part to establish freedom and democracy in a country long held captive by the tyranny of dictatorship made John proud to be an American.  His parents fled the killing fields of Cambodia and John knew just how fortunate he was to have grown up in a country of peace and freedom. 

It was just this one day, while on patrol with his unit of the first battalion of the 1st U.S. Marine expeditionary force- Charlie Company- that he wished he were back in this land- planted firmly on American soil.

It was a Sunday afternoon in Karbalah when a homicide bomber detonated his payload next to a soccer field of playing children, just between the field and a marketplace of vendors.  The force of the bomb was so strong, it could be felt a mile away.  The Marines arrived on scene to find women and young boys strewn across the edges of the field- a bloody and grizzly scene that once again became all too familiar to soldiers after some months of peace and calm.  Searching for survivors, for breathing children or mothers, John turned over the body of a woman to find an infant beneath her.  Wrapped in a blanket, clutched to her mother’s chest, the baby was bleeding from her shoulder, and though unconscious, was alive. 

A wave of emotions came over him as he yelled out to the medics to come and help.  His daughter, back home, was just about that age, with the same angelic features.  In that moment he wished he was home- not just to hug his daughter who was safe and sound- but because he wondered how much longer he would have to summon the strength to face and confront everyday the evil in Iraq that could justify attacks on women and children- even beautiful infants fresh from the hand of God.

A medic tapped John on the shoulder, breaking through his thoughts as he looked across the scene to survey the work his men were doing.  The medic held the child up, wrapped now in a clean blanket, and put her in John’s arms.  "Hurry, we need to get her to the hospital," he was told.  Quickly John shifted back to the work at hand, because the question, he realized, was not whether he would have the strength to face this again day in and day out- but rather, if not him, who?

Bombs go off everyday in the life of some Christian, somewhere.  It could be the bomb of hearing from your doctor that you have cancer.  It could be the bomb of finding out from your teenaged son that he got his girlfriend pregnant.  It might be the bomb of having your house burned to the ground by west coast wild-fires.  Whatever it is, the questions we ask are similar:  "Why did this happen to me?  How am I going to make it through this?  Where am I going to get the strength to deal with this and take care of my family too?  Will our lives ever get back to normal?"

In these "bomb attacks" of life, we have God’s promise, "I will watch over you wherever you go."  God is watching over John, and He watches over us too.  Things don’t always go as smoothly as we hope, and life is not without its pains and struggles, but God will never leave us.  God follows through on his promises to us- to the very end- and our strength is in Him and His promise that he is always watching over us no matter what happens.