Knowing God's Plan

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

We would all like to know God’s plan for our lives and for specific times within our lives. He seldom does things the way we would do them, but we try to trust that He has plans that are for our best. Still, it is frustrating wishing He would do things our way just once.

When we look back on our lives we can see where His plans were obviously better than what we had asked for in the first place. We can also see times we went ahead with our own plans only to mess things up. Nevertheless, God rescued us and made good come of our bad choices.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21)

God’s word is full of wisdom concerning God’s plans. One thing we know for certain is that He wants everyone to come to know Him and to accept His son’s sacrifice and be forgiven of their sins. All other plans lead to this one. Salvation of His creation is the center plan around which all others work toward.

Redemption for all is the purpose of the Lord. When His plans don’t correspond with ours, we should look at our ideas about how things should go with His purpose in mind. Is what we are asking for in line with the overall plan of God? Our faith in God and in His son Jesus, saved us and now that faith must sustain us during difficult times when we wish we knew what His plan was. We must take one day at a time, trusting that as we walk, He is with us, leading and guiding and protecting us from harm.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Once we have salvation through Christ, if we allow it, we can be led by His Holy Spirit to do His will. If His plan is our focus, our plans will align with His. But that is too challenging for humanity. We believe we know best in many situations. We believe that doing things our way could not possibly do any harm. He is God, after all, He can make it work.

This attitude is self-centered, not God centered and we all do it. We find ourselves praying, “God, just make my idea be your will, it will work, and it will be perfect”. Looking back at the times we have asked God for our will and not His we can see how much better His will was in the end.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Before rushing in to act or to pray in such a selfish way, we should remember that God prepared everything beforehand to work out His perfect plan. We are His to do with as He wills, but His great love for us makes His will benefit us in the long run. Each singular event in our lives is just a blip on the screen of eternity. It may seem all important to us at the time, but it will pass and if we allow God to have His way, it will bring Him glory and it will bring us peace.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

God hears the pain as we cry out to Him, asking for His will but really wanting our own. He hears us. He knew beforehand what we would ask for. He made us, and His love is greater than we can ever understand. Because of His great love for us, He does what is best and gives us His Holy Spirit for comfort, bringing us through the pain to a better result.

As we learn more about God, and draw closer in our personal relationship with Him, our trust in Him will grow. We will ask for His will and mean it. We may still throw in a few hints about what we would like to see happen (because we can’t help ourselves), but we will know that He has the best outcome for us in His heart.

 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

God has been very clear in telling us not to worry. Human nature (old nature) worries about everything. If we listen to His words and believe with our hearts that He will take care of everything, we will have patience to wait on Him. If we live in His will and pray for His will, He will comfort us when things are difficult. Keeping the old nature under submission constantly comes from asking the Holy Spirit for the fruit of self-control. He will give it to us, along with an extra measure of grace to trust Him more in each situation.

 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ...(Matthew 6:25-34)

Prayer: God, everyday it seems we struggle with one thing or another. We ask You for favor. We ask You to do this or that for us. We forget that Your will is greater, and Your plan is what is important. Help us to align our thinking, wanting and praying with Your will. Give us peace in our times of pain. Give us extra grace so that we can trust You completely. We will still bring our wants and needs to You, but we know that Your plans for us greater than any of our own plans could be. Thank you for Your love and patience with us as we struggle to submit our will to Yours. Amen

My book Fresh Fruit Meditations on the Fruit of the Holy Spirit can be ordered from Amazon or Goodreads.com.  Also available at Christian Bookstores or on Kindle.  Thank you. Jennifer Chamberlain