Louise Gevers

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm37:4

With all the planning that we do daily on different levels there are always pitfalls; and whether we end up with no lunch, or missing our plane through poor planning, it impacts our life.  Even when we are more practised, we realise that despite the most careful planning things go wrong, and coordinating all the different elements in complicated situations is very challenging and doesn’t always succeed.

When we were very young, one of the plans our parents made that would cause the children great excitement, and not a little anxiety, was the treat of going to the Drive-In. We loved arriving in the disappearing daylight in our dressing gowns and slippers, eating Hot Dogs in the car while watching the movie, and falling asleep on the way home – so why the anxiety? The rain! We always knew that rain could scupper that plan and anxiously watched the sky all week, not wanting Friday night to be spent at home listening to Squad Cars on the radio!  This may sound like a simple plan, but it was important in the context.

There are many things that we just don’t have control over when we make plans. We need to turn all our plans over to the Lord in faith and trust, big and small, because He alone has all power and our best interests at heart: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Solomon advises, “Ask the LORD to bless your plans, and you will be successful in carrying them out. (Proverbs 16:3) We sometimes forget just how great God is and how much we need His wisdom in our lives; He is always in a much better position than we are. We sometimes have to accept, however, that the Lord’s idea of success is not necessarily the same as ours.

I have sometimes prayed very carefully before embarking on something to find that it doesn’t appear to be quite working out, and glitches are stopping progress. Yet when I look back later, I realise that the modified plan did work out superbly, because the Lord took factors into account that I could never have known with my limited understanding.

So now when plans “don’t work out”, even though I’m praying, I trust that God is working wisely for the greater good and I’m never surprised when they surpass my expectations and bless a whole lot more people on the way.

Prayer: Father, You alone have the power to answer prayer and make our plans succeed. I put my plans and trust in You. Amen.