BY GREG CRUM
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11
God thinks about us. That’s mindboggling. Really, it is. Think about it. The most powerful and important being in all the Universe, the One who created the Universe, in fact, takes the time to think about us. What’s more, one translation of Jeremiah 29:11 goes so far as to relay that this same God has developed plans for our lives, “plans to prosper” us and “not to harm” us. (NIV) Why would the One above all exert the effort to do such a thing for each person on this planet? His love for us is the only logical answer!
Brothers and sisters, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it bears repetition: God has a plan, or a blueprint, if you will, for each of our lives. This plan was made well before we were born and it was made thoughtfully and lovingly. It’s a great plan, both great for us and great for the Kingdom of God, and one of the best things about this plan is that no opposition from forces without can derail it. Sure, the devil will try, and he’ll enlist as many humans as he can to assist him, but their best efforts can’t stop God’s life plan for you from coming to pass.
Of course, that’s not to say God’s plans for our lives are fail-proof. They don’t just unfold because it’s His plan or His desire. No, God’s plans for your life can go unrealized because we can forsake them. They can go unfulfilled, not by external darkness, but by internal workings. God’s plans for our life are good. Discovering them and following them leads to our best life. But follow them we must, because, while external enemies can’t derail God’s plans and purposes in our lives, the man in the mirror can.
Have you ever heard individuals bemoan the quality of their lives and opine that “only if they’d grown up on the right side of the tracks” or “only if they’d had someone to give them a helping hand in life” things would have been different? They think that because they didn’t have external intervention, or because they did and it was working against them, their lives turned out the way they did. The fact of the matter is that no external force can stop God’s best life from becoming your reality.
Remember Joseph of Old Testament fame? External forces tried to stop his life from turning out the way God had planned, but they could not prevail! Joseph eventually fulfilled the prophecies of his youth and became who God had planned him to be. Friends, Joseph was exceptional as a leader, but the fact that he realized God’s plan for his life and that outside forces couldn’t stop him from doing so is not exceptional—it’s the Bible pattern. Psalm 118:5-6, Isaiah 54:14-17, and Romans 8:31-39 all reveal that others can’t stop what God has in store for us.
No, there’s no external force that can derail God’s good plan for your life, but unfortunately, you can. How? Isaiah 1:19-20 gives us the answer when it declares, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” It’s sad but true that we alone can derail God’s good plan for our lives by either ceasing to be willing or obedient to follow that plan. We can stop God’s plan from coming full bloom in our lives by wandering from the path He’s laid out for us to walk.
So many people on the planet today are living unfulfilled. They’re living below their means. They’re living the hard life. It’s not what God has planned for them. It’s not His “lot in life” for them. He’s planned better things for them. He’s planned better things for all of us. To realize that life though, to step into it and enjoy it, we must get out of our own way and choose to walk His path for our lives. Maybe you’ve been told all your life that you get to live life whatever way you choose (and you can technically), but your best life is not in your choice. It’s in accepting and following His plan for you!
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.