"God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast and when I run, I feel his pleasure."
Plans
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11When I worked at an indoor athletics event in France in February 2020, I would never have thought that it would have been the last event I would attend for 14 months and counting. The event that I had pencilled in as my comeback in mid-June has just been postponed indefinitely. But compared to the 125,000 people in my country alone who have lost their lives and all those who have lost their livelihood, my situation is pretty unimportant. Nonetheless we all find the uncertainty, that has become the norm, difficult to deal with. Most of us would never have believed that life as we know it could be placed on pause.
It is so helpful to know that God was not taken by surprise. It is encouraging to read the words of Jeremiah that God has plans for us and that they’re good plans.
Jeremiah uses the word “disaster” and it is hard for us not to see COVID 19 as a disaster which has claimed the lives of well beyond a million people globally and has been a harsh blow to world economies, inevitably affecting the poorest in societies most.
The career of the elite athlete is short, 5-10 years maximum at the peak in most cases. For those who are at the height of their powers losing one or even two seasons to COVID is hard to deal with.
It almost seems glib and patronizing to tell such people to look at the bigger picture but there is an eternal truth in the words of the verse from Jeremiah. God is from everlasting to everlasting. God sees the big picture. God has promised us a future and a hope if we acknowledge him.
Take a moment to acknowledge God and to believe that he will bring good out of this difficult year and that, no matter what happens, in God you have a future and a hope.