God’s Plan For Your LifeSample

God’s plan may not be as complicated as you think.

Have you ever heard that God “has a plan for your life”? Often, our parents or well-meaning adults talk about God’s plan to encourage us, but if we’re honest, sometimes it just ends up freaking us out! But here’s the thing: God’s plan isn’t as complicated as you think. 

In the Old Testament, there’s a story of a guy named Abram. Genesis 12:1 says God told Abram to leave his native land and go to a place that He would show him. Leaving your native land, your home, for a place you haven’t even heard of yet? That sounds pretty scary! Yet in Genesis 12:4, it says that “… Abram departed as the Lord had instructed …” 

God never gave Abram the full blueprint. He left out a little more detail than Abram was probably comfortable with. Instead, God gave Abram instructions for the very next thing He wanted him to do.

And spoiler alert: Because of his obedience, God later changed his name from Abram to Abraham, which means “father of many.” And Abraham went on to become the father of many nations! In fact, Abraham appears again in Hebrews 11 in the Bible’s Faith Hall of Fame. Pretty neat, right? 

Abram is a great example of someone who lived by faith—even when he could only see a part of God’s plan for his life. He certainly wasn’t perfect, but his life was full of moments of obeying God, even when it didn’t make sense. 

So, when it comes to God’s plan for our lives, that’s often how God works—speaking to us through His Word (the Bible) and providing us guidance for the next few steps in front of us. That’s all God’s plan really is. It’s a series of next steps we take in obedience to God. 

Psalm 119:105 says that God’s Word is a lamp to guide our feet and a light to our path. This verse wasn’t talking about the type of lamp you have in your bedroom that lights up the whole room. Rather, this verse was referring to what would essentially be a small candle. It wouldn’t provide a lot of light—only enough to see what was straight in front of you. It would be like going into a pitch-black room with a tiny flashlight—you’re only going to see a few steps ahead. 

Like Abram, God isn’t going to give us the full blueprint for our lives. If He did, we wouldn’t need to live by faith and trust Him! Rather, God wants to speak to us through His Word and the trusted Christ-followers in our lives to help us with the next thing—one step at a time.