The Plans He Has for Us
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you peace, not disaster, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
How many of your 2021 plans have already been changed, or questioned, or scrapped entirely?
Goodness knows our 2020 plans didn’t all come to fruition.
Like many people, I like to sit down in January and think of some goals for the new year. Plan a few vacations. Write down lists of actionable steps to achieve… something.
And by the end of the year, odds are good I haven’t accomplished terribly much. Often through forces completely beyond my control, sometimes totally unforeseeable changes have happened by December that make my goals irrelevant or my priorities shift or plans impossible.
If pessimism (or realism!) is whispering in your ear, “Don’t make plans; they never work out anyway,” hear the Lord say this to you: “I know the plans I have for you.”
Some of his plans are explicitly stated - he’s told us in his Word what to expect.
“All things work together for the good of those who love God” Romans 8:28
“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me”
John 14:3“Plans to give you peace, not disaster” Jeremiah 29:11
Some of them are unknown - he hasn’t chosen to reveal them to us ahead of time.
I’m sure you can think of several areas in your life where you’re walking blind. Perhaps a move or change of employment are headed your way this year. A change in family structure dynamic. A personal health struggle of mind or body. Some days the very place we live and system we live as part of seem to be in question. These uncertainties can sure make it difficult to form any plans of our own.
Notice God didn’t say WE will know the plans. He said HE knows them. And he is so much bigger and wiser than we are. He is infinite, and already exists in our tomorrows and has pre-approved them for us. He sees this entire year, and all it will contain, and has declared it fit for you, his precious daughter, to walk through. He is perfect in his love and does not send us alone, confusing and foggy though the trail might be. He goes right along with us every day.
We can make goals and plans and lists as much as we wish. But if we find that we have many big question marks in those plans, don’t be afraid! God knows his plans entirely. Those question marks, those blank spots - those are where God has worked out something “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3:20) Wait and see!