GOD HAS GOOD PLANS FOR YOU!

Over the past couple of days I’ve been reflecting on the thought: “God has good plans.” This thought has even worked its way into multiple conversations I’ve had with friends: “God has good plans.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) states this declaration of the Lord: “For I know the plans I have for you…” I know the verse continues, but just the beginning of it serves as a powerful reminder God has plans and we are included in those plans…”plans I have for you.” G.K. Chesterton, the English author, wrote: “With every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand.”

 

When we are writing a story, we can decide on the main plot, the characters, the hero and how the story ends. When it comes to life, even though we can sometimes delude ourselves into thinking otherwise, we don’t get to write the story. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to put together a “life plan”, where you set goals for what you want to accomplish in life and design a strategy for how you will achieve your goals, you’ve likely found out that life doesn’t follow our plan. There have been unexpected obstacles and opportunities, setbacks and successes. Unless you are the rare exception, none of us is in the exact place in life we imagined for ourselves, ten or twenty years ago.

I think the reason why we misunderstand the story of our life, as Chesterton suggested, is because we are living in a story we’re not writing. I’ve heard it said that a rhino can run thirty miles an hour. The problem is a rhino can only see thirty feet ahead. (Warning: I am about to compare all of us to a two-ton African mammal!) Just like a rhino, God has given us the capacity to outrun our ability to see. We can choose to write our own story and ignore God’s plans, which may seem like a good option when life is hard and things seem to be getting worse by the moment. Or we can seek to live our lives in obedience to the plans He has for us. 

I am humbled by the thought that when I think things are going wrong in my life, they may actually be going right for reasons which have not yet been revealed. What sounds like bad news and looks like an unfavorable situation, may simply be the middle of the story. I recently saw this tweet and I like it: “God’s plan is like a movie. All the good and bad things are arranged together for the good ending.” This much I know…God has good plans for YOU!


"At the end of days, God is the one who is either going to say, 'Well done' or 'What was up with that?'"  *Bill Hybels