Man Plans… God Smiles…
Proverbs 16:9 The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
And PRAISE Him, He does! I have no (zip, nada, none) plan to grow up. My plans are to remain in the playground of life. I plan to sample everything I can get my hands on and throw away anything that makes me grimace with pain and/or dislike. I am the little one who dances for her Daddy, spinning tales of great adventure and star quality lifestyles. Never will I be average, only striving for excellence! “Oh, Daddy, I will make you so proud!”
Man/girl plans…
The saying is… God laughs (meaning BRING IT ON!), but God is a “Good Good Father” (I love this song by Chris Tomlin!)… I prefer to see Him smiling. He does not ridicule or destroy our dreams. He gives us a future and a hope… For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope… Jeremiah 29:11
We sometimes view God as our competitor. Sometimes a competitor who relishes in our defeat. A competitor that we must conquer at all costs for the sake of our happiness. “Why me, Lord? What have I done to deserve Your wrath?” If necessary we try to distract His focus from us to those we know who we believe need it more.
God is good ALL THE TIME… (and ALL THE TIME, God is good).
If you’re not sure about this, may I suggest you reread the Book for a description and mission statement of each and every cast member on this stage called earth.
God is the only one who has always acted with love, in fact He IS love so He cannot act any other way. Satan is the only one who has acted with death and destruction, in fact he is on his way to eternal damnation and wishes to take those whom God loves with him. We, those whom God created to be like Him, are given the opportunity, ability, and responsibility to CHOOSE whom we will believe and serve.
It aint always easy! God knows the plans He has for us. We don’t always know the why or why nots…But it will always be used to train us up in the way we should go… Proverbs 22:6. Satan also knows the plans he has for us. 1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. We must always be aware and prepared to make our choice.
My husband and I are three days away from leaving for a trip we have been planning for the last six months. We each have a list of things to do for each day and will only finish those lists the moment we back out of the driveway.
Man plans…
Surprisingly, no where on any of our lists is the plan to handle a busted hot water pipe and the mitigation of the least resistant path the water took to come out from under the walls. It (the plan) is now, our lists have expanded!
Just a few weeks ago, Houston was the beneficiary of a storm that dropped 17 inches of rain overnight. Thousands of people, I’m sure, did not have the plan on their list to mitigate the flood damage or spend months restoring what the river of water took from them… they do now.
It is shocking when we hit or are hit by a wall of crisis. Be assured that both God and our enemy have a vested interest in what is taking place. It is not OUR plan that rules the day!
In those moments that our little water problem (probably in the neighbor hood of a few thousand dollars) we looked but couldn’t believe what was happening, we both were at a loss for what to do. Of course, the first thing was to declare that NOTHING CHANGES! Then we began to admit that, at the very least, our lists need to change. And finally, we began to do the necessary, leaving the inevitable for later, and taking one step at a time
Over the years of our training, God has given what I call our version of STOP… DROP… and ROLL in the “firestorms” of life.
We hit the wall of crisis…. STOP what you are doing
In the midst of our shock, our brain and body continue as if this is NOT A PROBLEM… DROP our expectations and DROP to our knees in God’s throne room in order to lay it all before Him.
As our minds comprehend, our bodies prepare, and our faith inspires… we ROLL on… one step at a time, holding on to Daddy’s hand, dressed in His armor and filled to the brim with the power of His Holy Spirit.
Don’t expect to be a super human, someone who is never in pain, someone who is never afraid, someone who always has the perfect plan, someone who is never wrong… Jesus is, was and always will be the ONLY PERFECT man. Expect to NEED HIM!
We will always plan… we will always want our way… we are, after all, created in the image of God.
But here’s the difference between God and us… “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts… Isaiah 55:8-9
Maybe it should be… man plans prays… God smiles.
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible