God Has a Plan

God has a plan and it is different than yours. The sooner you get over this fact the better. While you are accepting this please remember  – God is eternal and He has been about this plan for literally forever. So He has thought it through and since all wisdom begins and ends with Him you can be sure His plan is superior to yours.

Abraham never planned to leave home, but that was God’s plan for Abraham. Abraham never thought he would have children, but God’s plan included the Seed coming through Abraham. After Abraham was told by God what was going to happen, when it did not come soon enough Abraham tried to invent a plan on his own. It was not a very good plan. In fact it was downright deplorable, and all of this from “the father of the faithful.”  In the meantime God’s plan prevailed.

Look back on your life to this point and think about some of the plans you have made that never were realized. What about the person you did not marry that you once thought would be your spouse? What about the occupation you were pursuing, the city you were thinking about making your hometown, or the things that you assumed would still be a part of your life that are now gone? It is humbling to examine where you are and what you are doing and who you are doing it with and compare all of those things with your original plan. It will remind you that you have far less control than you think.

This week marks the ten-year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis. That was not in the plan. This year was the 18^th consecutive year I have lived in the south. Being from California I can tell you this was never in the plan. We have three wonderful children – again, not in the original discussion.  I am working with a church which a few years ago I never knew existed, in a town I had never visited before, and now it is home and I know of no other place at this moment I could call home this side of heaven.

While we know the providence of God is working in those who love Him (Rom. 8:28), I do not believe for one moment that my choices had nothing to do with where I am today. Some things are chosen for us, because life throws curve balls. Some things we choose ourselves, because we have free will. But through it all we need to let go and let God. We need to understand that our plans are feeble and imperfect. But God’s plans are perfect and if we will accept them He will always work them out to our best eternal interest.

Before the foundation of the world, God had a plan (Eph. 1:4). This included Calvary and a Man hanging on a tree. It is the most beautiful story ever told. It is the theme of the everlasting kingdom of heaven. When you think of any plans you are making, always think of the cross. It will remind you that no matter your goal, God’s plan for you is even greater. Pray and plan within His will. His will is going to be done either way. And it is your choice to be in His will or not.

The Bible is God’s written will for man. God’s providential care is God’s unwritten will for those who follow the will that has been written. God’s plan is that we obey the first and trust in the second. When we do this, somehow everything turns out better than we could have ever dreamed.

“There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21).

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