When God's Plans Are Not Ours...

                                                      

               Proverbs 16:1 "We can make our own plans, but the LORD gives the right answer."



When we think of being in the Lord's will, we usually think of His plan for our lives. We consider that before  we were even born, God had our lives mapped out. He decided how we were going to look, if we would graduate from high school, if we were going to go on to college and pursue a degree, and He even decided who we would marry and how many children we would have. When we think of the depth of His love and His careful planning for our lives, we realize just how wonderful it is to have a great God Who is in charge of our earthly lives. Proverbs 16:3: "Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed". 

There is no need to worry, God knows our every thought, our every desire, our every need. And He meets every one of them. Whether He meets them the way that we want Him to, is not guaranteed. But since He knows what the "road" looks like up ahead, we need to trust His "road map" for our lives. Proverbs 16:9 "We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. Whatever He has planned for us, we can be sure that He is in complete control of whatever happens.

Psalm 139:7-12:

"(7)I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from Your presence! 
(8) If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there. 
(9) If I ride the wings of the morning,
 if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 
(10) even there Your hand will guide me,
and Your strength will support me. 
(11) I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night-- 
(12) but even in darkness I cannot hide from You.
To You the night shines as bright as day. 
Darkness and light are the same to You."


We can never get away from His love, His power, His might. His grace is constant, His words never lie. We have nothing to fear and nothing to hide from where our futures are concerned. There is nothing up ahead that is too great to face with the Shepherd walking by our side. An example I often like to use, is when we see that hill and don't know what is on the other side. Between every two hills is a valley; a dip or trial period. When it seems that we get over one problem (the hill), we have nothing but a valley to walk through. Sometimes, it's a small valley--like losing a test; but sometimes, it's a large space between the two hills--such as the loss of a loved one. And getting from point A to point B is enough of a challenge to make us wonder where God is. Where did He go and why did He just leave us walking this rocky path alone?

But He's always there. Just as you can't see the wind, you know it's there. There are billions of stars never seen by man; but we know they're out there. We may have never seen our hearts or our brains; but we know we have them. If the wind, stars, hearts, and brains have never been seen, and yet we believe they are all there, why is it so hard to believe that the Creator of these things does not exist when He Himself is not visible to us?

No matter how well we think we have our futures planned out, it's God who decides the outcome. Proverbs 16:33 "We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall."

God is in control; whether we are aware of His guiding hand and presence or not. What we can know for certain about the future, is that whatever outcomes He has planned ahead, He planned them for our own good. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Don't be discouraged, my friend. What we can't see, God sees. And what we don't know, He knew even before the creation of the world.

"Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." ~Isaiah 40:26

Blessings on your walk with our Lord and Savior this day,

Anna