His Plan vs. Our Plan

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” -Proverbs 3:5-6

There is no might, no power, and no force greater than Almighty God.  He is force, he is might, he is power.  He is almighty, omnipotent, and omnipresent.  He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.  This is the God that wants to direct your life.  For His glory, and for your good. 

Trust is not a natural inclination to those of us who have our own understanding.  When we are young, we trust implicitly.  We believe everything, and we have no issue trusting in the authority figure.  As we grow and our understanding evolves, we drift away from trusting in others and embrace trusting in ourselves.  We want to, and are even encouraged to, direct our own paths.  We want to guide our own feet and plot our own course.  By our perception the same amount of risk exists in trusting in our plan, as it would trusting in God’s plan, yet we trend towards “our plan” simply because it is “our plan.”  Our plan is calculated, our plan is relegated, our plan is “our plan.”  God’s plan is not ours, and because it is not ours, we not only have to trust Him for the future, but we must believe Him for direction.  Rather than choosing the direction ourselves.  The devil uses our drive to execute “our plan” against us.  He uses it to ensnare and ensure our own destruction.  He does this by pitting us against God.  He deceives us into thinking that God’s way is unreasonable, unfair, and sometimes down right insane.  Admittedly, at times, it may seem so.  It was unreasonable for Abraham to offer his promised son.  It was unfair for Joseph to keep trusting and believing after he had been enslaved, wrongly accused, and thrown in jail.  It was insane for David to challenge Goliath.  However, if it was obvious, it wouldn't be faith, if it was apparent there wouldn't be trust.   He might tell us to quit the job we want and live in the house we don't.  To leave a place of plenty and live in a place of want.  He will call you to sacrifice, to obey.  There will be times when trusting in His plan will put you in direct contrast with your plan.  However, His plan is far greater and more perfect than what you could ever come up with yourself.  We cannot see the result, he can.  We cannot know the dangers ahead, he can.  Jesus said, “I do always the will of my Father.”  Therefore, a life lived for ourselves is not a Christian life.  It is not a sanctified life.

His direction will not always be your direction (in fact it seldom, if ever, is).  It will take you places you never thought you would go and lead you away from things you never thought you would part with.  Trusting in God will require sacrifice and obedience, but in that, and because of that, it will bring, and keep, the presence and power of God into your life.