Many times after an event or circumstance in our life takes place, we will take the time to look back on the event and make a comment such as "Well, that did not go according to plan". Or, occasionally, someone could respond with "That went just according to plan". Yet, as I was taking the time to ponder such an interesting topic, I realized that everything goes according to God's plan, so everything goes according to THE plan.
Everyone has a unique personality. For the most part, there are three types of people out there: planners (those who plan everything out), pantsters (those who fly by the seat of their pants), and plantsters (those who half plan and half fly by the seat of their pants, just waiting to see what will take place). Each one of these can have benefits and each can cause issues. Those who are so focused on planning often feel destroyed and less of a person if their plans do not turn out as expected. For those who fly by the seat of their pants, they seem to find themselves lost, confused, or in dangerous situations. For those who do some sort of balance with both, they are likely not going to do enough planning, or they are going to feel too controlled if they plan too much. It is difficult to find a balance sometimes.
But, none of that matters. We know that God is in control- of everything! He has a plan for each day and each person. Proverbs 16:9 says "In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." We cannot make plans without the Lord is aware of them, nor can we make plans that come to pass unless it was God's will from the beginning. Does anyone ever think that the plans that we make could easily come from God Himself guiding us with what He wants us to do?
Psalm 139:16 says "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them." We can see that God has a plan for each and every one of us humans to a T. He has a plan for every day in our lives. He has a plan for what He wants us to accomplish in this life. He knows when we will pass away, and it is according to His perfect plan. I know that the statement made really bothers some people. There are so many songs, books, etc. written about people taken 'before their time'. But, as this verse indicates, it is impossible for us to be taken before our time. It was the time that God had planned for each and every one of us. It does not always make sense to us. In fact, it rarely does make sense. But, it is okay because God will use the circumstances for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28).
Then, there is one of the verses that most Christians are super familiar with: Jeremiah 29:11. It states "'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." This is encouraging to hear, but context is important. This verse was written in relation to talking to Israelite leaders after captivity when they were working on building everything back up. But, this does not mean that it does not apply to us. It just means that it might not be as true as we think. We know that God is a good God and that He loves us all with great love. But, not everything in our life will 'prosper us and not harm us'. We are told in the New Testament that if we are Christians we will be persecuted because we follow Christ (John 15:19-20). This is definitely going to cause harm. But, we can still have hope and a future because of everything else that Jesus also told us about- we have an eternal home waiting for us (John 14:3). Paul reminded us that the pain we are currently going through here on earth is nothing compared to the eternal glory we will receive in heaven (Romans 8:18).
Interestingly, sometimes I feel like I can see what is going to happen before it happens. Not in the creepy prophecies gift. In fact, there are absolutely no specific pieces of information that I know. It is all a feeling, not like a vision or something that I can see. It is also not proven to be accurate. So far I have not been wrong, but it does not happen much and each situation is specific and kind of control. Let me explain. Back in high school, I remember that there was a specific night that the school marching band was supposed to play for a football game. We had totally done this before- many times. But that specific afternoon I was hanging out with my friends and I told them "I just don't feel like I will be there tonight. I don't feel like I will play my flute at the football game." My sister and friends were just as confused as I was. I know that I also did not want to be there, so it could easily have stemmed from that thinking, but I was not positive. Sure enough, though, there was a small storm that came through and so we were not required to come and play even though the game did take place. Again, I could have gone if I wanted to, so that factor was more "in my control" so I made my feeling come to take place. It has not stopped there. It has happened a few more times including me not feeling like I was going to go to a Summer Camp the spring before the event. My brother was diagnosed with T1D right before we would leave, so we did not attend. Or most recently, I applied for a job and even though I knew what the job would look like, I could not imagine myself having the job. I did not get it. All of these are very situational, and it is easy for me to say something that has a high probability of what I say coming correct, but each time I said them I felt a much higher probability of my understanding is correct. For example, with the Summer Camp one, I could not imagine myself being there, but I had never been there so, of course, I could not imagine it! It was also the Summer of 2020 so it was likely that COVID would affect the possibility of camp actually taking place. But I felt a 90%+ chance that I would not be going when the state was pretty open and the camp did still take place.
All of that being said, I had plans that I had made but then God allowed the events to not take place. Even if I had a feeling that it would not happen, it did not mean that it was my desire for the event to not take place. I really wanted the specific job. I really wanted to go to the summer camp. But, I know that it was God's plan for them not to take place. "Knowing" (or thinking that I knew what was going to happen) ahead of time did give me peace when the 'feeling' came to take place.
To conclude, the main points I want to be taken away from this are that 1) God is in control, so this is all going according to His plan, 2) God can help give peace when things do not go our way. God had everything planned out before we were even born. Though not everything in our lives will go according to our plan, it will go according to His. And, it will be wonderful!!!
Comments
Post a Comment