I’m a planner. I regularly consult my calendar; I’m always checking the weather. By the time breakfast is done, I’m thinking about dinner. There’s comfort in knowing what’s coming next, in having a sense of control.
If only life cooperated.
None of us are strangers to thwarted plans. In April 2020, when we still lived in the UK, our long-awaited flight home to visit my Florida family was canceled. Last Christmas—finally living in the same town as my parents after 10 years—my two-year-old had the stomach flu from December 24–26.
Some interrupted plans bring disappointment, but we regroup, adjust, and move on. Others bring a deeper sense of confusion and heartache. Seeing my first positive pregnancy test, we began to plan for life with a baby, a little one we’d never end up meeting.
How do we respond when life doesn’t go as planned? Do we rant and rave, spiral into doubt? Or do we place our trust in the One who sees the whole of our lives—and not just our lives, but all of time?
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21
The Bible is full of interrupted plans. Think of Mary, planning a life with Joseph, when the angel’s pronouncement threw those hopes into uncertainty. Or Jesus’s disciples: they thought he would usher in freedom from Rome’s oppressive rule, but instead they witnessed his execution.
Talk about confusion and heartache. But God was orchestrating his own, much more glorious purpose: rescuing of all of humanity.
Our plans loom large in our little kingdoms, but God’s purposes have eternal weight. What plans of yours is he interrupting today? Will you trust him? Will you believe that he is good, that he knows best? He may be planning something far more glorious and far-reaching than you could ever imagine.
Leave a Reply