1 Kings 6-8

Don’t you hate it when you make plans only to have them blow up in your face because someone else had plans of their own? The King of Aram had plans, but Elisha ruined them. So the king wanted to go to war against Elisha.

Here’s the thing. The king’s plan was wrong. It needed to be stopped. And fighting against Elisha was fighting against the armies of God.

Sometimes we get so fixated on our own plans, what we want, how we think things ought to be, that when our plans meet roadblocks we want to fight. We might direct our anger toward another person, at the unfairness of life, or at ourselves without considering that it just might be God’s loving hand that was preventing us from a world of hurt.

It’s not wrong to make plans. They can act as a rudder on our ship. But with every plan must come “Yet, not my will but Thine be done.” If our plans succeed, we ought to acknowledge it as from God. If they fail, we ought to acknowledge that from God, too.

So, the journal I use to write my thoughts about the Scripture passage I read each day has a Bible verse at the bottom of every page. Listen to the one I discovered at the bottom of the page I used today:

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 9:11)

I am so thankful that God has plans for me. I gladly surrender my own plans into His capable and loving hands, knowing that He knows what He’s doing, and it’s all for my own good.