Over the past twenty years, there has been a succession of restaurants at a major intersection in a nearby city. Recently, when the latest of these eateries shut its doors, the curbside electronic billboard shared a somber message.
When I saw it for the first time, and every time afterwards, I thought, “How do you know the restaurant is closed forever?” I understand they meant the place that just went out of business, but the word “permanently” went all over me.
Have a little faith in the future!
A few months later, a new eatery opened in the same location. It’s receiving rave reviews, and the parking lot stays full.
The lesson here is to be cautiously optimistic about the future; one chapter in life may close, but another can open.
A young aspiring attorney once wrote to Abraham Lincoln, asking to be his apprentice. Lincoln politely declined in a letter to the gentleman that includes this famous advice:
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
Abraham Lincoln
God sent a similar message to His people exiled in Babylon, but did one better than Old Abe—He promised to personally bring them successfully home:
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 a hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
Kind reader, if you and I are still alive, it’s not too late. During the prophet Jeremiah’s time, Israel was “permanently closed” for seventy years, yet the Lord brought the exiles back as promised.
He still keeps His promises today. So, chin up, child of God!
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31 (NIV)
Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️ prayers and love.
Davids Daily Dose 
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