Try as I might, some things just don\u2019t go quite like I\u2019ve planned. You probably have had things go awry as well.<\/p>\n
Some have been disappointing, others have been devastating: the marriage that ended, or the marriage that hasn\u2019t happened yet; the baby you\u2019re unable to conceive, or the baby who grew up and broke your heart; a devastating diagnosis, or an illness they can\u2019t diagnose; the parent you lost at a young age, or the parent you care for in their old age; a job change, or a job loss.<\/p>\n
Whatever it is, it wasn\u2019t part of your plan.<\/p>\n
What happens when our plans fall through, when that hope we\u2019ve been aiming at and working toward doesn\u2019t materialize — when, because of our choices, someone else\u2019s choices, or simply the sovereign hand of God, we look around and say to ourselves, \u201cI didn\u2019t sign up for this\u201d?<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s one verse I have to tell my own soul over and over again, it\u2019s Psalm 138:8. Its words are so simple, yet the promise is so breathtaking: \u201cThe Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.\u201d[*] Just let that sink in. The Lord [the God who made you, loves you, and gave Himself up for you] will [that\u2019s a fact; it\u2019s a certainty; you can bank on it] fulfill [bring to fruition and completion] His purpose [the one for which He created you, not anyone else\u2019s, including your own] for you [yes, you!].<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s another: \u201cMany are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand\u201d (Proverbs 19:21). That means no matter what you and I have mapped out for our lives — no matter how detailed our 5-, 10-, or 20-year plans may be — the Lord will never be deterred from fulfilling His purpose for your life and mine.<\/p>\n
Whether my soul responds to this promise with peace-filled praise or anxiety-induced petitions is, more often than not, a reflection of my confidence that God is who He says He is.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, even my prayers betray the posture of my soul. What if the Lord\u2019s purposes don\u2019t exactly fit my plans? And then I have to wonder: What if God and I have been aiming at different things?<\/p>\n
Take a look at all that the Lord has promised for us in the future, and all that He\u2019s told us to do in the present, and we see that Scripture gives us a different way of thinking about our big dreams and life plans. It adjusts our vision. And while we may not be able to plan out all the details, the Lord\u2019s purposes for our lives are clear.<\/p>\n
Here are just a few of them. That we would:
\n \u2022 love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:37).<\/p>\n
\u2022 love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).<\/p>\n
\u2022 seek first God\u2019s Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).<\/p>\n
\u2022 be sanctified and conformed into the image of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:3; Romans 8:29).<\/p>\n
\u2022 be the Lord\u2019s witnesses and ambassadors (Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:20).<\/p>\n
\u2022 walk in holiness, unstained by the world (1 Peter 1:13-16; James 1:27).<\/p>\n
\u2022 fight for sexual purity (1 Corinthians 6:18-20; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5).<\/p>\n
\u2022 use our gifts to build up and benefit God\u2019s family (1 Peter 4:10).<\/p>\n
\u2022 walk worthy of the Lord and the calling we have received (Colossians 1:10; Ephesians 4:1).<\/p>\n
\u2022 trust in the Lord, knowing He will direct our path (Proverbs 3:5-6).<\/p>\n
\u2022 know Christ, even His sufferings (Philippians 3:10).<\/p>\n
\u2022 glorify the Lord in every aspect of our lives (Colossians 3:17).
\nSo how do we live in this? How do we allow the Lord\u2019s purposes to shape our direction? Proverbs 16:3 gives some insight: \u201cCommit your works to the Lord, And your plans will be established.\u201d That word \u201ccommit\u201d actually means \u201croll.\u201d Think of it as rolling all that you do — giving it all — to Christ. The more we roll our works onto Him, the more we orient our lives around Him. And the more we orient our lives around Him, the more His Spirit shapes and even transforms our plans. His purpose becomes our plans.<\/p>\n
It might sound simple. And, I suppose it is simple. But between our plans and God\u2019s purposes is often a struggle that involves unclenching our hands and pouring out our hearts to offer the simple prayer: \u201cThy will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t need a 5-year plan to be people of vision. We need a relentless hope, an immovable trust in the purposes of the Lord. He will fulfill His purpose for you. It is certain. It is written. It is yours. Just give Him all of your heart, including your plans.<\/p>\n
While I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve got this one all locked up, I\u2019m willing to start trading my plans for His purposes.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
* Holwick: the 2011 version of the NIV translates it quite differently – “The LORD will vindicate me.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Try as I might, some things just don\u2019t go quite like I\u2019ve planned. You probably have had things go awry as well. Some have been disappointing, others have been devastating: the marriage that ended, or the marriage that hasn\u2019t happened yet; the baby you\u2019re unable to conceive, or the baby who grew up and broke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[279,4418,1209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}