The Power of the Future

Jeremiah 29:11

Please stand for the reading of the Scriptures. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

The ASV says it like this, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.”

The AMP version says, “ForI know the plans and thoughts that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

The title of this message is the Power of the Future!

History is a powerful tool. It is revelatory. It is informative. It tells the story of when, where, what, why, and how. It fills in the blanks and it assists us in understand better who we are and why we are the way we are. If you have ever gone to counseling or sat with a therapist, most will want to discuss your history. Tell me about your family of origin, talk about your childhood, share with me some things that made feel joy as well has some things that disappointed you. Why, because hearing about and understanding your history will help the Counselor/ therapist better analyze and diagnose your issue. History.

Whenever you see a physician and complete the paperwork, doctors are going to ask you about your family’s medical history all because you family’s medical history can and most often does reveal and inform you physician of any potential issues that might lurking inside of your body. History.

History answers the all important question, “How did I get here?” How did I end up in this present space or place, how did I get this mindset? Where does it come from? Why do I have these tendencies, these proclivities, this potential, why am I drawn towards this behavior, this style, this belief, in your history lies clues to how you’ve ended up where you are.

Likewise as a people, our history helps us understand how we got here. When we engage an assessment of our journey as African Americans, if we fully delve into the deep crevices of our history, we have to admit and acknowledge that there were not enough White folk in the world to be able to go to Africa and round up millions of Africans and force them into an oppressive existence called slavery. If we are truly going to understand how we got here, then we have to acknowledge and admit that it was our own folk, those tribal chiefs and trusted village leaders that deceived their own kind by leading them towards the entrapments of the predators in exchange for monetary gain and political power.

In short, many of our ancestors ended up on somebody’s plantation because those that looked them, those who shared the same DNA, those who spoke their language sold them out to the slave traders. This rings loudly the saying that bears truth no matter what color you are, and that is this; “All skin folk are not kin folk!” We arrived on these shores as slaves because of greed and power. The intoxication of greed and power gave birth to a system of oppression that is so entrenched into the fiber of this nation until we are still waging battle against systems that oppress and subjugate people based on race, gender, financial status, and academic achievement. Ours has been an existence of perpetual promises made but unkept. As a people, we are still fighting and clawing for basic human rights, basic respect, and basic realizations of goals and objectives based on the idea that we all are created equal.

This battle began when our ancestors refused to accept slavery as their normal. You see, although they were in a foreign land, they could still remember freedom back home, therefore, that thing that they knew, that thing that they believed, caused them to have an expectation that change was possible. And so they started, they began a journey toward securing a better and brighter future.

OUR ANCESTORS

Everything that our ancestors did, every protest, every sit-in, every bus ride, bus boycott, every election when there was an overwhelming response by black voters, every life sacrificed, was done with the hopes of a better and brighter future. The verbiage of the I Have A Dream speech focuses on the future described as “One-day,” even the protest song we sang says, “We Shall Overcome SOMEDAY,” again, future connotation.

There has always been an eschatological aspect to the plight of the African American experience. This means, it has always been the posture and belief of the African that no matter how troubling and terrible the present may be, there is still a possibility that things can and will get better. That is why we always look forward to the morning....the morning was our reward for persevering, holding out, pushing through; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning, or joy comes after I have endured the trial. Another analogy has been that of a women in labor, for during the period of labor, the pains are intense and the contractions get shorter and shorter, but once the baby is delivered, the joy that comes with that has a way of totally eclipsing the pain of labor.

I say all of this to say, as a people, we have always believed not matter how difficult the task, no matter how hard the taskmaster, no matter how dark the night, if we could hold out till the morning, if we could just push through this situation, that our latter would be greater. We always believed that these present trials cannot be compared to the glory that is to come. We’ve always believe that we should not get weary in well doing because a season of reaping is coming if we faint not. We believed and we sang, “I’ so glad trouble don’t last always, and that there’s a bright side somewhere, and the encouragement is “don’t you rest until you have found it,” all indicating that something different, something new, something wonderful was possible. A future is possible and We believe in the future.

HISTORICAL BLACK COLLEGES

The emergence of historical black colleges was yet another to rally towards improving the future conditions of black folk in American by offering them an opportunity to ascertain a college or university experience since mainline colleges and universities refused applications from black students in those days. This injustice gave rise to the phenomena of the Historical Black College/ University, of which the African Institute, organized by Richard Humphreys, became the first black college founded in 1837, and is now the oldest HBCU in existence, better known as Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, followed by the University of the District of Columbia, then known as Miner School for Colored Girls, founded in 1851. And then there was Lincoln University, founded in 1854, just to name a few. Today over 100 HBCUs exist across the length and breath of this country, Howard University being the largest one touting a student body of more than 11,000 students in the 2021-22 school year.

3 Best HBCUs

Howard, Spellman, Xavier University of Louisiana.

Three States with the most HBCUs

Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia.

The Only HBCU Organized by a Black Woman

Voorhees College, in Denmark, SC, founded by Elizabeth Evelyn Wright, born August 18, 1872 in Talbotton, GA, with $5000 and 280 acres of land. Voorhees College holds the title of being the only school still standing, founded by a direct protege of Booker T. Washington, (with the exception of Washington’s institute, Tuskegee College.)

All of the above, along with every protester, every freedom fighter, every organizer of an HBCU, the organization of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (1930), the John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evans, Shirley Chisholm, Stacy Abrams, every entrepreneur, every black business owner, every educator, everyone who gave of their literal blood, sweat and tears had thoughts, dreams, hopes of a better and brighter future.

GOD THINKS!

While this is true, what seals it for me is the fact that the belief in a future is not just a pipe dream of the oppressed, it is way bigger than that. What I am mesmerized by is the fact that not only did our ancestors think about a better and brighter future, but God thinks. This has got to be on of the most mind-blowing realizations. God thinks. We are so use to God acting, God doing, or God just being, but to know that God thinks, and not only does God thinks, but God thinks about me/us. Not just about us in abstract terms, but God thinks in specifics…God has thoughts and plans for us, thoughts of our well-being and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope.

I think that this is some amazingly good news. I choose this text because it speaks about Israel when the nation was taken into exile and according to the decree of God, would be there in a strange land for 70 years. It was a time of great disappointment and dismay. However, like many of us, people were ignoring the real reasons behind their oppression and instead of turning back to God, they were turning to their own false prophets who told them that this things would be over shortly. But God sends his own prophet Jeremiah to give them some instruction and to give them so hope.

I thought this was a pertinent passage to consider because when the African slaves were trying to see themselves in the scriptures, they identified with the nation of Israel because they were a people of bondage, but they were also a people of liberation, and therefore, when they saw God making moves on behalf of an oppressed people, it was easier for them to believe that God will make some moves on their behalf and to give them some hope.

HOPE/HOPELESSNESS

You see, I believe that the serum of death is hopelessness. I believe the thing that leads to pessimism, doubt, depression, anxiety and stress is the feeling of hopelessness. When there is no anticipation or expectation of a future all of these tendencies surface, they emerge seemingly out of nowhere. Hopelessness occurs when people feel as if they will not experience positive emotions or an improvement in one’s condition, according to the American Psychology Association. It is certain that hopelessness is always the culprit behind suicides or suicidal attempts.

Furthermore, hopelessness is the culprit behind surrendering. When we as a people begin to surrender our hopes and dreams and simply settle for the small, settle for the menial, settle for just getting our feet in the door, it means we have not expectation for anything better, anything greater, or anything spectacular.

Hopelessness causes you to give up the fight, to accept the status quo, to be alright with being treated as if you have no intelligence, no skillset to offer, to accept being dismissed by folk dumber than you, to believe the negative rhetoric spoken over you or about you. Hopelessness causes you to give up trying, give up your press, your push, give up on your dream, dessert your desire, abandon your ambition, quit your quest. That is why many of our best and brightest minds have been derailed by both a system that does not see you at all, and when it sees you it demeans and demonizes you based on what you look like.

Here we are today, still fighting the good fight for equity, justice, fairness, inclusion, but we must admit, we are way more privileged than our ancestors. More privileged, but less ambitious, more privileged but less committed to the fight, more privileged but also more jaded, more ambivalent, more distracted than ever before. I think we need to take a page out of the book of our ancestors who who survived the Middle Passage, those who endured the harshness of slavery, who somehow discovered that they possessed an indomitable spirit and consequently began to envision a future that was different, better and brighter, even if it meant they’d never live to see it.

What is it about the future that compels us, draws us, intrigues us, captures us? I think it is the idea of HOPE. To think in terms of a future means to have some kind of hope, to have some kind of expectation, some aspiration, and some yearning in your soul that looks for things to be different, improved, be better or greater. They possessed spirit of hope because they trusted in a God who said, “I know the plans I have for you, plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

First thing to realize is that God has plans for you. Your current plight does not cancel God’s plans for you.

Secondly, God wants you to prosper (Nobody has shoes, nobody wears shoes), Psalm 1, Joshua, Solomon,

Thirdly, God wants your prosperity to be perpetual. Generational blessings, wealth, children’s children, future, not yet, setting up the next generation.

Lastly, an expected end, end-goal, permanence.