For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil; to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29: 11
A friend of ours planned a surprise birthday party for his wife. He really wanted it to be a surprise. So he roped me and my husband into the plans at first. Eventually my whole family was in on the plot. The plot started on a Monday and the birthday fell on a Sabbath. To remove all suspicions on her part we advised him not to ignore the day but to acknowledge it with a ‘happy birthday’ message and birthday cards from him and their two children in the morning. He bought the gifts and brought them to our house for safe keeping. Some of the food was brought to our house. The other foodstuffs he ordered and left with the grocers for last minute collection.
We were doing very well until on the day itself. On Friday evening we had agreed with other families who had been invited to have our lunch at the birthday lady’s house the following day on Sabbath. Then it clicked that since the party was set for the evening, having lunch at their house would mean her husband saying something about her birthday and a celebration would be held prematurely. So we decided with the others to move the lunch from her house to another home. I sent a text message to announce the change of plans and her husband quickly picked on the idea and encouraged her to join us with her family. The birthday lady would not budge so we had lunch minus them.
Fortunately the husband had managed to convince her to attend the afternoon program at church in order that he could find opportunity to finish off preparations at home and to pick up the gifts and food. He did just that. He drove home with my kids for them to assist. My husband and I were meant to take her home at the close of the Sabbath. We were both involved in the afternoon program at church so we did our part while closely keeping an eye on her not to leave prematurely. She was now left in church with two restless children, not knowing where her husband was and the weather started to get chilly. Somehow while we were busy with the program, we missed it when she came out of church and walked home with the children. When we realised what had happened, we frantically tried to locate her by driving through the ‘village’ to try and intercept her before she got home. I caught up with her as she got into the house and discovered the secret. To shorten a long story, the surprise was no longer a surprise.
For it to be a surprise, my friend’s husband had to do things that did not make sense to her. How could he disappear without communicating and leave her to mind the children all alone. In her lack of understanding and impatience to figure out what was going on, the surprise was spoilt. You can be sure that she was not amused at all with what was going on and must have been preparing some choice words to say when she met her mate.
Many times God has planned surprises for me in my life. To accomplish the surprise, He sometimes has to put me in situations that do not make sense to me. He has the bigger picture which encompasses the end that he has prepared for me. All I can see is the here and now. In my confusion and quest to want to know it all, I interfere with God’s plans for my life. Like my friend who should have had faith that her dear loving husband would not possibly abandon her and the children, I too ought to be still and know that God is God (Psalm 46 v 10a). God has promised in his Word in so many ways that He will never leave me nor forsake me. It is so easy to repeat these promises when he has done something tangible that makes me feel happy and special. The challenge comes when he is cooking up a new plan meant to get me to another level in our relationship. I am sure you too have experienced those moments of saying ‘why Lord?’ or ‘what’s going on now?’
My thoughts are not your thoughts & My ways are not your ways God says in Isaiah 55 v 8, 9. My friend did get her birthday party but not the way that her husband had originally planned it to be. We too will get those things that God wants to give us, but maybe not in the same way or at the same time as God had intended if we would not have interfered. If only we would take God at His Word when he says ‘I know the plans I have for you?’(Jeremiah 29 v 11) We would receive exactly what God wanted us to have in the first place, in the right way at the right time.
Dear God, many times circumstances around me can be so confusing. There are times when I long to have something and want to have it now. In your wisdom, You cause me to wait, probably because what I want is not good for me or I am just not ready to receive it yet. There are times when I reach out for You, and I just don’t feel Your presence at a particularly difficult time in my life. At such times I may panic and even doubt Your promises to me. In my impatience and quest to understand what is going on, I may interfere with your plans for me. At such times, remind me of who You are. I thank You because You ‘do not deal with me after my sins’ but ‘You pity me as a father pities his child, and You remember that I am of a weak frame and that I am mere dust (Psalm 103 v 10, 13,14). Thank that no matter how much I fret, Your plans for me shall still be accomplished according to Your will. AMEN
A friend of ours planned a surprise birthday party for his wife. He really wanted it to be a surprise. So he roped me and my husband into the plans at first. Eventually my whole family was in on the plot. The plot started on a Monday and the birthday fell on a Sabbath. To remove all suspicions on her part we advised him not to ignore the day but to acknowledge it with a ‘happy birthday’ message and birthday cards from him and their two children in the morning. He bought the gifts and brought them to our house for safe keeping. Some of the food was brought to our house. The other foodstuffs he ordered and left with the grocers for last minute collection.
We were doing very well until on the day itself. On Friday evening we had agreed with other families who had been invited to have our lunch at the birthday lady’s house the following day on Sabbath. Then it clicked that since the party was set for the evening, having lunch at their house would mean her husband saying something about her birthday and a celebration would be held prematurely. So we decided with the others to move the lunch from her house to another home. I sent a text message to announce the change of plans and her husband quickly picked on the idea and encouraged her to join us with her family. The birthday lady would not budge so we had lunch minus them.
Fortunately the husband had managed to convince her to attend the afternoon program at church in order that he could find opportunity to finish off preparations at home and to pick up the gifts and food. He did just that. He drove home with my kids for them to assist. My husband and I were meant to take her home at the close of the Sabbath. We were both involved in the afternoon program at church so we did our part while closely keeping an eye on her not to leave prematurely. She was now left in church with two restless children, not knowing where her husband was and the weather started to get chilly. Somehow while we were busy with the program, we missed it when she came out of church and walked home with the children. When we realised what had happened, we frantically tried to locate her by driving through the ‘village’ to try and intercept her before she got home. I caught up with her as she got into the house and discovered the secret. To shorten a long story, the surprise was no longer a surprise.
For it to be a surprise, my friend’s husband had to do things that did not make sense to her. How could he disappear without communicating and leave her to mind the children all alone. In her lack of understanding and impatience to figure out what was going on, the surprise was spoilt. You can be sure that she was not amused at all with what was going on and must have been preparing some choice words to say when she met her mate.
Many times God has planned surprises for me in my life. To accomplish the surprise, He sometimes has to put me in situations that do not make sense to me. He has the bigger picture which encompasses the end that he has prepared for me. All I can see is the here and now. In my confusion and quest to want to know it all, I interfere with God’s plans for my life. Like my friend who should have had faith that her dear loving husband would not possibly abandon her and the children, I too ought to be still and know that God is God (Psalm 46 v 10a). God has promised in his Word in so many ways that He will never leave me nor forsake me. It is so easy to repeat these promises when he has done something tangible that makes me feel happy and special. The challenge comes when he is cooking up a new plan meant to get me to another level in our relationship. I am sure you too have experienced those moments of saying ‘why Lord?’ or ‘what’s going on now?’
My thoughts are not your thoughts & My ways are not your ways God says in Isaiah 55 v 8, 9. My friend did get her birthday party but not the way that her husband had originally planned it to be. We too will get those things that God wants to give us, but maybe not in the same way or at the same time as God had intended if we would not have interfered. If only we would take God at His Word when he says ‘I know the plans I have for you?’(Jeremiah 29 v 11) We would receive exactly what God wanted us to have in the first place, in the right way at the right time.
Dear God, many times circumstances around me can be so confusing. There are times when I long to have something and want to have it now. In your wisdom, You cause me to wait, probably because what I want is not good for me or I am just not ready to receive it yet. There are times when I reach out for You, and I just don’t feel Your presence at a particularly difficult time in my life. At such times I may panic and even doubt Your promises to me. In my impatience and quest to understand what is going on, I may interfere with your plans for me. At such times, remind me of who You are. I thank You because You ‘do not deal with me after my sins’ but ‘You pity me as a father pities his child, and You remember that I am of a weak frame and that I am mere dust (Psalm 103 v 10, 13,14). Thank that no matter how much I fret, Your plans for me shall still be accomplished according to Your will. AMEN
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