Trust God’s Plans

“I coulda been a contender! I coulda been somebody!” Like the dashed dreams of young boxer Terry Malloy in the Oscar-winning film On the Waterfront, so go many of our dreams of wealth, prosperity, and achievement. We might fall short of goals we set for ourselves or plans we make, and yet God tells us that His plan A is still (and always has been) in motion. Even so, we sometimes can’t help but wonder how that could possibly be true when life doesn’t go according to plan.

Our most important goals are ultimately those that God set for us: to know Him and to glorify Him. Everything in our lives, even things that “go wrong,” becomes an opportunity to do just that. Further, we accomplish His goals when we constantly speak His truth. Even Job, with all His trials and tribulations, said in the midst of it all, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21 ESV).

It’s an unsettling reality that life brings no guarantees. We may try to make plans for one day, one week, or one year down the road, but we can never be certain if or when we might have to make a sudden left turn in a direction we never expected or wanted to travel. We might face what we consider detours, collisions, and missteps along the way, but our destination is wherever God brings us, wherever He wants us. That’s why we must trust Him and His perfect plans for our lives.

The most difficult piece of this reality is to embrace these uncertainties and changes, to learn from them, and then to grow closer to God because of them. When the worst happens, it could actually turn out to be the best thing in the long run. Jesus’ death on the cross was a trauma beyond belief for His followers, but His sacrifice became the greatest thing to have ever happened for the good of all humanity.

To God alone be glory!

This plan contains content from Light for Today: 365 Daily Devotions from the Lighthouse by Lauren Green https://broadstreetpublishing.com/light-for-today/9781424567287/