It is human nature to plan, and to set goals, and to build toward a purpose. The Lord created us to be individuals who can strategize. In fact, in all of creation, humans are the only ones who have the ability to plan into the future, to see eventualities and prepare for them.
God did not give animals the gift of foresight, only to mankind is this capability given. We are intrinsically designed to plan ahead. Yet the Lord has also set conditions on this gift: we must submit those plans to Him.
We can intricately and carefully set the best laid plans, with the best intentions and motives, and the Lord will still burst your bubble. This can be very painful, and it often breaks us. In fact, the Lord will shatter our plans and our goals in order to realign us to the path He has established for us.
Proverbs 19:21 reads,” Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
Instead of this being a discouraging thought, this should bring us great comfort! The Lord has not called us to do difficult, painful things on our own, but He has prepared in advance the steps He wants us to take, the purpose we were designed to live out! When we submit our plans, our hopes, our dreams, our needs to Him, He establishes the path we are to take, and this path produces more fruit than if we attempted to do it in our own power and in our own thinking.
Just a few days ago my family vacationed at Mt. Rainier. We drove up to a place called Paradise, famous for its verdant meadows, carpets of wildflowers, tumbling streams, and breath-taking vistas. My youngest daughter and I decided to take an easy trail, separating from the rest of the family who decided to take the hardest, steepest, most arduous path. With our paper map in hand, we strolled the paved path, comforted in our hearts that we knew where we were going and how we were going to get there. Four unmarked branches later we found ourselves taking a literal stream disguised as a trail up the subalpine slopes of Rainier.
We were clambering alone and lost on an unknown trail. It was exhausting, it was painful, and it literally broke my shoe.
I remember looking around thinking, “how did we get here? This is not the path I meant to take! It wasn’t supposed to be this hard!”
Torturous days later, or maybe a couple hours later, we ended high up on a wind-swept ledge looking down at the terminus of the Nisqually river hundreds of feet below, flowing from the Nisqually Glacier.
Both Josie and I were in awe where we ended up, speechless at the majesty our feet climbed to. It was not the path I had planned, and though I thought I had carefully mapped it out, the Lord had a completely different path planned for me…and it was amazing.
The question is this: what are we missing out on because we are committed to avoiding pain and discomfort? Could there be something on the other side of suffering that somehow makes it worthwhile?
Today’s challenge is this: The Lord disrupts our plans, our status quo, our ideas of how our lives were meant to go, because it is HIS purpose that will prevail. Plan all you like; the Lord is the one who determines your steps. Pray for the courage to submit your plans to Him and pray for the faith to take those ordained steps. Pray for the courage to see what is on the other side of the pain.
