The Plan of God

Every day is different.  No one really knows what the day is going to hold when the sun crosses that eastern horizon.  The letter James wrote has a word for those of us who have such detailed plans for our day and who get so upset when they do not come to fruition, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.'  Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.  (James 4:13-14)  What is true about tomorrow is equally true about yesterday's tomorrow.

 

This does not speak to the fact that the world in which we live is a frightening world.  It simply acknowledges the reality that control is an illusion.  What is not an illusion is the provision and providence of the Creator and His handling of all that exists around us and through us.  And neither does this Word declare that only a fool makes plans.  Perhaps, it is more true that only a fool does not makes plans.  The difference is the wisdom in knowing intentions might be superceded by the plan of God. 

It is not so much what we plan to do, or even, what we do, but the attitude with which we do it.  One of the hard things for most of us to learn and one of the things most of learn far too slowly is that life is not really about us, but about the One who brought us into being.  Those who insist on their way are always out of step with the creation as well as the Creator.  The wise person plans, but knows that life is not in the hands of the plans, but in the hands of God.  What is coming in the moment we call today may be exactly according to our expectations, but more likely it is going to be full of twists and turns that could never be expected.   Such is the plan of God for those whom He has called to live by faith.