Give up your puny plans for God's plans

Think you know best?  Think you can dream up a better plan than Almighty God?  

I want only God's plan for my life.

I don't want my way, I want His way.

I don't know the way, only Jesus knows the way.

Do you know how long it has taken me to reach this point?  Decades, friends, decades.

So be careful because you can spend an entire life - even as a follower of Christ - seeking your own will, way, and plans.  Millions all over the world are doing just that.  How do I know?  I think the world would look completely different if we were all totally on board with God's plans.  Because His plans are good!  His plans are best!  His plans are beyond our wildest imaginations!  There would be many, many more souls won to Him.

What's wrong with making plans, you may ask.  It's only wrong when done apart from God's will, without seeking Him or acknowledging Him.  If you bulldoze forward because you pride yourself that you are a "planner," I am here to promise you that no matter what you can come up with, it will never be a better plan than God has for you.

God wants the best for our lives.

Do we know what's best for ourselves?  Not likely.  Too many conflicting ideas out there.

I mean if you think about it, how on earth could we know better or more than Omniscient God?!  What part of all-knowing don't you understand?

That means He knows the future - the beginning from the end - not just of your life but of all time.

He knows, and is Lord over, when and where the next natural disaster will strike (I wrote this before the devastating floods happened all over Europe).  He knows when the next stock market crash will occur.  He knows the date and exact time of your last breath.  Do you know these things?  (clear throat) 

He knows it all, friends.  Why wouldn't you want to be plugged into that?!

So what plans are you making?  Have you factored in every possible outcome?  No, of course you haven't because you can't!

The paradox is that when we follow Christ, listen for and obey His plans, it will feel like or look like we are taking huge risks.  I mean Noah took a big chance - would it really rain?  He said goodbye to his reputation when he obeyed God.  "This doesn't make sense, Lord, but I will obey You."  

Mary, you will give birth to the Savior of the world, though you are a virgin.  Make sense?  Not in the natural world!  Yet Mary said yes.  She did not exalt her own "reasoning" or "science" over the Sovereign Lord who can do the impossible. (side note - science is barely catching up with God.  God is the Author of science, folks.)

Do you think Noah could have come up with a better plan?  Could Mary?  You?  Me?

C'mon, friends.  There is no plan that we could ever devise that could outdo God's awesome plans.   

So what are you waiting for?  Are you a master manipulator, able to "get it done" apart from God?  Get what done?!  What exactly are you accomplishing anyway?  Most likely a bunch of wood, hay, and stubble.  (see 1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

Oh, and don't forget - His plans are not about a job, title, or position.  Oh no!  They are far greater than that and much more far-reaching.

Give it up!  Lay down your own plans in exchange for God's!  Give it all up to Jesus!  Ask Him to show you the way.  He will do it!  And it will be beyond anything that you could ever ask, think, or imagine.

Great and wonderful God.  I adore You.  I praise You for Your omniscience.  I thank You that you have a plan for each and every life on the face of the earth!  Wow!  Help me to always seek, know, and do Your will, Lord, and trust Your plans for my life.  For You are a good God!  And You reign!  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.