Change of Plans

A friend once told me, "If you ever want to make God laugh, make a plan."

If this is true, God must find me hilarious...or just a sad case of stubbornness.

I make plans (read: I, a fallible and finite created mortal, cook up half-baked ideas that hinge on speculations and wishful thinking) all the time, every day, ranging from what I'm going to do this afternoon to what I'm going to do in five years.

But here's the problem with making plans: things don't always go according to plan.

Here's an example: I had planned to write this blog post earlier today and about a different subject. I ended up cramming my day so full that I barely had time to study for my test tonight, much less write a blog post that, while it is important to me, does not help me keep my GPA up.

That is just a small-scale example, but if we're honest, we make plans every day that go wrong. I don't need to give you examples because you could come up with ten right now as you're reading this post.

The Bible has a lot to say about making plans, so before I say any more, let's look at some of the things God says:

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. (Proverbs 18:9)

 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

I think you get the point. God has made plans for us since way before the world existed and He's going to take us through them one step at a time.

But this can be hard to remember when your plans get changed. I mean, if my life doesn't go the way I planned, you may feel sorry for me and quote Scripture to me, but it isn't the same as when you plan to get this job or go out to eat with that person or wake up on your first alarm and those things don't go the way you wanted. Especially with the big, life plans like college majors and careers, a change of plan can redirect your entire life.

And that's frustrating. We have an idea of how we want things to happen and when and where and with whom. We set off on our man-made path. Suddenly a door closes in our face and we're angry. "Why did you let that door shut?!" we ask God. "It was going to be perfect!"
But then, and often in ways that we barely notice (and thus give Him no gratitude for), God brings us to the door He had chosen for us.

I have a tendency to run towards a bunch of these metaphorical doors and see which ones slam in my face and then go through whichever one is still open. And while it theoretically works, it's also a little reckless.

Wouldn't it be better to spend so much time in prayer with God that we know where He's directing us so we don't have to experience rejection from all our failed plans? After all, He has planed for us far more abundantly than all that we ask or think or can possibly imagine (Ephesians 3:20). His plans for me sound a lot nicer than mine.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, no matter how good you think your plan is, God can (and often will) change it to align with His will. The sooner we not only accept this fact but embrace the beauty of having our lives planned by the God of the universe, the easier it will be for us to walk in the calling God has laid before us. We won't be able to see ahead in this path, but that's okay because we're walking by faith...Not By Sight.