When life doesn’t seem to go according to your plan
Ever just sat back and asked God why you were in the situation that you were in? Ever wondered why it seemed that all your life plans seem to not work out? What about asking the Creator why does everyone else get the ‘desires of their hearts’ and you don’t? Well, believe me, you are not alone!
My Plans
I often get into a head space where I wallow and complain because ‘my’ life plans seem to never go the way I want them to go.
I come from a background of the infamous prosperity gospel. The health, wealth, and prosperity teaching for those that are blessed in the Lord. I, however, don’t seem to fall into the category of the ‘blessed in the Lord’. I am not wealthy by the world’s standards of wealthy. I struggle with personal health issues. I don’t necessarily prosper the way the prosperity gospel says that you WILL prosper when you serve the Lord. I believed that when I gave, “it will be given unto you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” Luke 6:38. I believed that if I had enough faith, my health would be restored, and I would surely have the desires of my heart.
Yet, I am left sometimes wondering if I am His chosen, because something didn’t go my way. If I have done something so wrong, keeping me from His overflowing blessing. This process is quite depressing. It doesn’t bring me to a closer love and desire for my Lord, it takes me to a place of wondering if He even cares for me at all.
His Plans
I don’t know how often we say in our blogs to keep your noses in the scriptures. It is so important. Not only to know God, but to know His true character.
Many people who preach the word, get it wrong. They twist and manipulate the scriptures to fit their idea of the God of the bible. Not that I am a topflight scholar of theology, but I read and study my word. I am reminded in those times of frustration and despair that Gods plans are always going to take precedence over my plans. His plans are always for our good and for our end goal of eternity.
“For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 ESV
Teachers that use the scriptures like the Luke 6:38 passage seem to promote our plans over the Lords. They tell us that the Lord wants to give unto us in this way, but there is one problem. What if He doesn’t give us that type of pouring out of wealth? What if it doesn’t seem like when I give it’s ‘given’ back to me? Well, I think that has to do with two very important things.
Psalm 37: 4
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Scripture says that the Lord WILL give me the desires of my heart if I delight myself in the Lord. If I delight myself in the Lord, my desires will surely line up with His desires for me. Recognizing that according to Jeremiah 29:11, He already has great plans for me, that realistically may look contrary to the great plans the world tells me that God has for me. It also may go totally against the plans I have for myself and my family. It may look nothing at all like our plans. Not even a little bit 😊 God says that He wants welfare and not evil for us, therefore He reveals the good part of His character here. He is not going to allow those that He loves to have something that will bring evil to us. Whether that’s money, good looks, a great career… you name it, God will not allow it if it will hinder you, rather than be for your good. God is good all the time! The question is, do you believe that? Do I believe that? We must believe that for us not to be depressed when we don’t get our way!
Proverbs 16:9
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Yes, I know this scripture is saying that we plan, and God gets in line…. What??? No way! If we plan, and God got in line with our plans, He really would be no God at all. We would be the ones in control, and that just sounds like disaster! We plan according to our finite understanding of the direction life needs to go for us, and the Lord establishes the steps that get us to His plans. The ones he already established before we were even born according to Psalm 139:16.
His plans vs. My plans
When I was little, I made plans in my head to vacation with my family over summer break. Going to places that I never even thought was possible. When my parents said that we were going to North Carolina for a week because of my sisters’ track meet. I went. Now, that was not the plan I had made in my mind, but it was the vacation I was going on, with my family! You see, I did, unbeknownst to me, exactly what the Lord said, I planned, yet He ordered the steps. Was I mad that we went to North Carolina? NO! We had a great time. We were right where we needed to be that summer. Same as the year we went to Louisiana, Florida, California, and wherever else we went. The Lord placed us on that path!
If we take the time to remember how the Lord kept us when we were younger, even if our childhood was not the greatest, we can trust that the Lord will take care of us now, even if life doesn’t seem to be going according to our plans. God is always faithful!! I will say that until I go home to be with Him because He is. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. He will never turn His back on us. God is ALWAYS good. But guess what??? We are not! We are not always good, so therefore, the plans we make for our lives are not always good. We may have had good intentions, but only God knows if they are truly good plans.
Our Lord wants the best for us. His paths, His plans, His steps for our lives IS the best for us! Trust Him with your plans and everything will turn out exactly how it was meant to be!
Be Faithful, Be Free
E. Young