Planning Our Own Course

Day 165: Jeremiah 10-16

Jeremiah 10:23-25. Hear the words of Jeremiah, the prophet:

"I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die."

This passage is interesting to me for a variety of reasons. The first sentence ("I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own.") speaks true to me. This life I have is a gift; the lives we all have are gifts--gifts from the Lord. He decides when we live and when we die, and he is in control, literally, of our lives.

The second sentence, however, doesn't ring quite so true to me. We are able to plan our own course. We decide where we live, what we do with our lives, how we raise our children. We decide whether we go to church and, if so, where we go. We decide how we treat people, what sins we commit, and how we love. We are in control of many aspects of our lives.

So, what else might Jeremiah be saying in this sentence? He could be talking about predestination. Many church faiths believe that God has called people--a select few--before the creation of the world, and that those few are already predestined to follow God. My religious faith does not believe this principle. We believe that anybody can become a child of God. Perhaps God already knows who will make the decision to follow Him, but he allows us to make this choice rather than pre-selecting it for us. I tend to agree with my church heritage because I believe in free will.

So what else could he be saying? If you look at it within the context of Israel--the people who was selected by God to be his people--then it seems that we could also read this passage from that of a people who are already committed to the Lord. For these people--people who want to live a life committed to the Lord--then many of the decisions are determined by God's words to us, his instructions on how we should live, how we should treat people, and how we can become more like Christ in our daily lives. When we look at that sentence through this lens, then we can read it differently. Our decision to become a Christian and our decision to commit to God should, theoretically, lead us to give our lives away. Less of self and more of thee. We no longer make our own decisions; instead, the decisions we make are shaped and formed by our decision to live a life for the Lord. Wow. How amazing is that!

And the last part, verse 24, is so human. Jeremiah says, "So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die." Have you ever prayed a prayer like that? For God to be gentle and kind, rather than harsh and angry? Have you prayed for God to "correct you"? Perhaps we can see more about how kingdom life by reading these words. More about humanity. More about our Lord. More about ourselves and the plans we have for our lives.