Jul
18
2016
Making Plans
Posted in Daily Living 2 Comments
With a DVR, no one needs to watch commercials.
For advertisers, that must be frustrating.
For viewers, it is very enjoyable to watch your scheduled program without interruptions.
However, in the afternoon when I have my tea, commercials are expected.
It is then that I may turn on the news for about twenty minutes.
It is then that commercials interrupt each segment.
Usually I don’t pay attention to them since I may be reading as well.
However, one commercial is guaranteed to run each afternoon as if on cue.
The commercial shows a woman walking outdoors.
She announces with a large smile that she is in her 60s.
I have lots of years ahead of me, she says beaming into the camera.
Big plans, she says with determination.
That is when I want to throw my shoe at the TV screen.
The commercial bothers me.
The commercial makes me sad.
The commercial is not biblical.
I cannot even tell you what the commercial is advertising.
Maybe some sort of medicine.
Maybe some sort of insurance.
I never pay attention to that since the premise of the commercial bothers me so much.
Someone could say, You’re being a stick in the mud.
Someone could say, You’re being too serious.
Someone could say, It’s just a commercial.
Someone could say, Don’t let it bother you.
I know all too well.
Many of us know all too well.
It is good to plan ahead for the future.
However, our plans must be written in pencil.
I am sure my mother never thought that a heart attack would strike on that April morning.
I am sure that parents never expected to lose their child so young.
I am certain that the young husband never dreamed a drunk driver would kill his wife.
I am certain that people in the Brussels airport never anticipated a terrorist attack.
I know that the people in Nice, France simply wanted to watch the fireworks.
I know that the five Dallas police officers expected to go home that night.
I am sure that the people of Turkey never thought the would wake up to news of a coup.
I am certain that the people of Paris never anticipated multiple, terrorist attacks in their city.
We cannot live like Chicken Little, always afraid that the sky is falling.
We cannot live always looking over our shoulder waiting for the next thing to happen.
We must live aware.
We must live in faith.
Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then He said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And He told them this parable: The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones and there I will store all of my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.” ‘ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. The who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:13-21)
The rich man had big plans.
It is wise to plan for the future.
It is foolish to make your plans without consulting God in prayer.
It is foolish to write those plans in stone when God has the power and the right to change them.
When I read a particular chapter in the Bible, it always hits me hard.
It is found in the book of James.
It talks about boasting about tomorrow.
That passage changed the way I talk about my plans; it has helped me never to presume.
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. (James 4:13-17)
I always try to preface my plans with, If God allows or If it is God’s will.
I attempt to live with an awareness that God is in control.
God is in control of the big things and the little things.
God is in control of my plans and has the power and the right to change them as He chooses.
If God allows or If it is God’s will are not magical statements that make everything just fine.
If God allows or If it is God’s will are statements declaring God’s Sovereignty.
They are statements that remind me that I am not in control.
They are truths that show me that my pencil plans can be overridden by a Sovereign God.
I will probably refrain from throwing my shoe at the TV whenever I see that commercial.
I will thank God that His Word dwells in my heart and guides me in all truth.
God’s Word hidden in your heart solidifies your Biblical worldview.
In all areas of your life, God’s Word applies.
Hide God’s Word in your heart.
Make pencil plans with no presumptions.
If God allows and If it is God’s will, will more readily roll off your tongue.
You will learn to trust a Sovereign God who alone makes the best plans.
Good morning Regina! So true . . . life has taught me that penciled plans are best. Trusting a Sovereign God who knows best is the good and right thing to do. It always challenges me however, since there’s a little voice in me that asks, “Am I as strong as Job?”
Cathy, I think it is hard for most of us to completely trust, even our Sovereign God. Hopefully, we can each be more intentional to pray and let go of our plans and be thankful for His.
Regina