“God is not surprised.” It’s what Sara Robinson said at Radiant (Pastor’s Wives Retreat) when speaker Christine Hoover’s plane had been delayed time and time again. We prayed and rearranged the schedule. A substitute was mic’d, ready to step to the stage. But, a few moments before her exact time to speak, Christine pulled into the parking lot and walked right to the podium.

God is not surprised when the key leader of a group is unable to go on a mission trip that was planned for a year. And another member who had prayed, saved, and intended to go has to stay home due to a sudden serious illness.

God is not surprised when cancer invades a body, a family. But He is there.

God is not surprised when storms come into our lives. Mark 4 proves that to be true. The disciples had obeyed Jesus. Still the storm came. There are many other examples in Scripture.

God was not surprised when the Israelite’s backs were against the Red Sea and Pharoah’s army thundered straight for them.

God was not surprised when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den. When Joseph was stranded in a dungeon in Egypt for a crime he did not commit. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced the fiery furnace. When David stepped up to face Goliath.

God was not surprised when three armies headed to make war on Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20). The Israelites had a plan in place for what to do in times of crisis: “If calamity comes upon us…we will stand in Your presence…and cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear us and save us.” It was their Plan A. There was no Plan B.

Jeremiah 29:11 is one of those well-known verses we might rush past. “Yeah, yeah, I know that one.” Yet, it’s one to hold on to, one to squeeze tight in the dark. God does have a plan for us. It’s a plan to prosper and not to harm, a plan for hope and a future. He is for us-no matter what. Even when the plan is difficult. Even when it is not what we expected. Even when we are limping on the path.

Yes, God has a plan. And so do I. Like Jehoshaphat and his people, I’m going to rush to Him, cry out, and be rescued.

“God is not surprised.” I speak it to myself and then to others when life has taken an unexpected detour. You know what it does? It allows me to take a relieved breath. I’m not in charge, but I know Who is!

When life surprises me, it doesn’t surprise God.