S17P10 – When Jesus walked in: a new plan

Psalm 40:4-5

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Some of us have spent years planning our lives from an early age. From the career to the house to the car to the mate, we’ve mapped it all out. We see glimpses of seemingly perfect lives and begin to pick and choose from those lives the things we want to attain and obtain in ours. Still, we wonder what life has in store for us. For the believer, however, the question is different. I no longer wonder what life has in store for me. I wonder what God has in store for me. Forget my well-laid plans. When I dedicated my life to Christ, I said yes to what He has planned for me.

For creatures of habit, a new plan may cause fear, nervousness or even defiance. But if we look at the words David uses in this passage, the picture painted is one of hope and wonder. David says that those who turn to the Lord are blessed. This means that what God has planned for us is good. Not only that, there really is no new plan. God’s plan is only new to us. He had my days set before my feet ever touched the dust of this earth [Psalm 139:16]. The things He has planned for me should bring joyous expectation as that is the life that He has desired that I live all along. The old is passed away; the new has come. My life is new, and my plan is new.

We should not be disappointed when God turns the world upside down and sends our lives on a different path for his purposes. Instead, we should feel honored to be thought of by him and used for his good work. That our Father in heaven would desire to plan good things for us to anticipate is nothing but a manifestation of his perfect love for us. Whether He asks me to relinquish one of my plans or all of them, I should do so gladly. God’s plan must be better. Father, teach us to focus not on what we desire in our lives but what You desire in our lives, anticipating the glorious things You have planned for your children, understanding and confessing that You do and give only that which is good.