Timothy Dexter was a businessman who lived in
the late 1700s. According to the testimony of people
who knew him, Dexter was no mental heavyweight. But if he was
lacking in brains, he was blessed with a super
abundance of luck. He seemed to blunder into one
fortune after another.
During the American Revolution, Dexter bought up state bonds, which everyone said were worth less than dirt. In 1791, the U.S. government restored the value of the bonds. Suddenly, Timothy Dexter was rich. Local townspeople made a game of trying to trick Dexter out of his money. One man suggested that Timothy invest in Bibles and sell them in the least Christianized area he knew. The Bibles reached the islands just as a missionary-led revival was bringing in hundreds of converts. They sold out immediately.
On the suggestion of another joker, Dexter bought up whalebones, which were virtually worthless. But the next season, ladies’ fashions dictated corsets made with--you guessed it--whalebone stays. Timothy Dexter made a huge profit on that one.*
There’s no way around it--some people lived charmed lives.
Meanwhile, there are other people who, if they had a lucky horseshoe, it would fall off the wall and clunk them on the head.
Some of us don’t need a word of hope as we begin the New Year. Things are going pretty well. Some of us, however, need all the hope we can get. Life has dealt roughly with us, or with somebody we love, and we are in pain just like the people of Israel were in pain. We don’t need our faults pointed out to us. We need someone to convince us that life somehow is going to get better. So we turn to Jeremiah and we listen with keen attention to the words of Jeremiah 31:7-14 and what Jeremiah says to us is this: Trust God. God is faithful. God has not forsaken us or forgotten us. God will deliver us.
That’s Jeremiah’s word to us. “You’re going to make it!”
We know we can trust God for our future because we know who God is. God is our loving Father. God is our closest Friend. God loves us more than we love ourselves. If we are among those who, like the people of Israel, are in captivity--to disease, to heartache, to addictions or whatever our captivity may be--let us hear the word of the Lord. We will be delivered.
I suspect there is something very healthy about this approach. I’m not going to ask you how you feel today. Rather I want to know, what are your plans? If you sit around and focus on your problems, you will sink further into despair. But if you spend time with encouraging friends, or with a good book, or visiting a shut-in, or beginning an exercise program, or a host of other positive life steps, you will find it empowering. What are your plans? I know what God’s plans are. "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." What are your plans in this new year? Lift your eyes to the divine stage. See the victory that is coming.
*Sifakis, Carl. AMERICAN ECCENTRICS (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1984), pp. 28-31,
