God's good plans

For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future  Jeremiah 29:11

I was reminded the other day of some great plan I had for our lives that I thought would bring us happiness. It never happened and would not have brought us the happiness I was looking for. That reminded me of some other ideas that we had unsuccessfully tried; none of which I am glad to say succeeded.

God has great plans for our lives but there are two things they are not. One is a plan that is the same for everyone. We all have the same destination but how we get there has endless variety. Secondly there is not one way that is the ‘right’ one for us and everything else is outside the will of God. The will of God for our lives is not that narrow.

The path to salvation is narrow and is only through Jesus Christ. After that the variety of how we walk this earthly path is hugely diverse. If you imagine taking a journey from your home to a destination several hours away, there can be many different routes to take. There is the fast but often uninteresting motorway route. There is a way that takes in some towns and villages which can be beautiful but full of traffic jams or there is the country byways route which meanders through all sorts of beautiful places but takes forever.  None of these routes is ‘right’ and the others ‘wrong’. They all have merit and God does not approve one over another. God’s time frame is often very different from ours – fastest is not necessarily the best.

There may be times when God says that one particular way is ‘wrong’ for instance in Acts 16: 6 – 11, Paul and his companions wanted to go into Bithynia but the Holy Spirit blocked them from travelling there because he wanted them to go and help out in Macedonia. The Holy Spirit has several times blocked our plans either because they are not good for us or usually because he has a far better plan.

God’s plans for our lives are good but there may be a variety of ways to achieve this. If we choose one way over another God will bless either and if we trust him he will keep us from things that will do us harm or take us on an unnecessary and undesirable diversions. The only time I have seen people following disastrous plans has been when they have not involved God in their choices or tried to work out God’s plans and purposes for their lives by themselves. God can even rectify these if we humbly come to him for forgiveness.

God is building character and fruit into our lives and turning us into the likeness of Jesus. There is an endless variety of ways he does this. We do not have to fear missing out on anything if we trust God and we can trust him that no matter how we achieve them, his plans are the best.  

Who am I?

 When Moses saw the burning bush and went over to see why it was not burning up, God spoke to him from the bush.  God told Moses to take off his shoes because the ground he was standing on was holy. It was important that Moses knew he was having a divine encounter and not just seeing an interesting phenomenon. God then introduced himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Moses hid his face for he thought if he looked at God he would die.  God then outlined the plan he had for releasing his people from Egyptian slavery and told Moses, by name, that he had been carefully selected by God to go and speak to Pharaoh! 

Moses reaction is immediate and desperate, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’  Exodus 3:11. God’s response is not to answer Moses’ question directly but to tell Moses that he will be with him.  The point being that who you are is not nearly as important as who is with you especially if that person is God for then you will be fine. Moses of course was not convinced and asked God what his name was in case the Israelites asked him. God’s response was, ‘I AM WHO I AM. Tell the Israelites I AM has sent me to you.’  Names in the Bible are not just labels but an indication of the character of the person. God is saying that He is everything that Moses or anyone else will need. 

Moses’ increasingly desperate attempts to get out of this God-given assignment touch something inside each one of us who is looking to our own resources and character to fulfil God’s tasks.  Moses’ final plea was, ‘Please send someone else (Ex 4:13). But Moses was God’s man for the job because God knew that as he worked in and through Moses, God’s plan for the release from slavery of the Israelites would be successful.

We too can have a ‘Who am I?’ mentality and like Moses either argue with God or worse still we just don’t do what God is asking of us.  I have heard so many people say, ‘O I couldn’t possibly’.  The problem is we are looking to ourselves and not to God.  The minute we disqualify ourselves from God’s plans for our lives, we miss out on a great opportunity to bless others and be a blessing.

God knows our strengths and weaknesses and he will not ask us to do anything for which he has not equipped us.  God loves us and will always be there guiding and helping.  He truly is everything we need and we can trust him that as we step out in faith, he will be there.  He will not let us down.  Moses found this to be true and so can we.