Articles
According To Plan
This past week we visited my in-laws n Minnesota for Thanksgiving. The church that they are a part of has been working on a massive renovation and addition to their old church building. The group had simply grown beyond their capacity and needed more space. I was able to sit down with one of their elders and he shared some things about the building process that made me think of Bible ideas. The church had been planning this project for literally decades. Even after acquiring the necessary land and saving the necessary funds they spent over a year working with engineers and the city. They were supposed to be in the new building by August and they still weren’t there by Thanksgiving. The project was more difficult, expensive, and time-consuming than estimated. All I could think about was how different human plans are than divine ones!
When God plans something it is definite and sure. When people plan something there will always be uncertainty. This is because of the scope of God’s power and knowledge as compared to ours. He know the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10) but we have no idea what will come after us (Eccl. 10:14). As the creator of time itself God is able to predict things in Scripture and be right every time. The human builders in Minnesota couldn’t anticipate weather, unseen structural issues. Changes in cost, etc. God is different and because of that He is dependable.
God’s knowledge is also infinite. It is made clear in passages such as Psalm 147:4-5 that God knows all things. He knows every law of nature and every detail of creation because He is the Maker. God makes the wisest of men look like nothing (Isa. 44:25). There is so much we don’t know and can’t know that our plans cannot be certain. In fact as Job and His friends tried to find meaning and purpose in all of his suffering these are precisely the types of answers God gave. He showed that His ways and plans were beyond comprehension and we ought to trust Him.
My advice in this article is twofold. First, trust in God’s plans. They might not always seem to make the most sense but He is far more powerful and knowledgeable than we are. Trust that His way is best. He planned our salvation since before the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34; Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:20), certainly He won’t let us down. Second When it comes to making your own plans don’t forget that the future is uncertain. Make sure you are right with God because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. God’s plans are certain but ours are not. (Jam. 4:11-17).
