When Your Plans are Interrupted
“For 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 29:11 (NLT)
The other day, a friend lamented aloud about a well-thought-out plan that had come to nothing. She sighed, then ruefully said, “Man plans and God laughs, right?”
If you and I were to sit down over coffee, we’d have plenty to talk about when it comes to interrupted or canceled plans. It’s tempting to think that God is waiting for you to fill your tidy calendar with things, just so he can whip out his red pen and put a big red X through your plans.
You’re tempted to think, “why didn’t you do this sooner, God? Is this just to show me that you are the one in charge?!”
But that image is simply not true to the God of the Bible.
Yes, the Bible offers many instances when God frustrated the plans of the wicked (like in Nehemiah 4), and opposed the proud. At the same time, though, God arranges interruptions as divine appointments. Just think of the many times when someone delayed Jesus or all the times when Paul’s missionary travel plans got rewritten.
God frequently reroutes people in a way that just doesn’t make sense in human understanding.
I love the way Scott Hubbard puts it: “God rarely performs his wonders in lovely lands of comfort and ease. More often, he delivers us from one trouble only to usher us into another trouble, as when he delivered his people from Egypt, only to lead them to the edge of the breakers on the Red Sea. So, when God’s strange and bizarre ways bewilder you, take courage. You’re walking with Abraham and Sarah who waited decades for a son. You are watching with Jeremiah as Jerusalem goes up in flames. You are trembling with John the Baptist beneath the executioner’s sword. You are weeping with Mary Magdalene outside the tomb of Christ. Although God’s ways may seem strange and mysterious, he will show us that his ways, so high above our own, are nevertheless perfect. So take courage!”
Courage is exactly what we need when our plans have come to nothing.
We need the courage to not complain, have faith, get up, and do the thing God planned, rather than us. It takes courage to keep moving forward.
And just where can you find that courage? How can you stoke the fires of courage when disappointment over failed plans threatens to undo you?
Well, one of the best ways I stir up courage is through song. Brave music, as St. Augustine called it, helps me get life back into focus. Another thing that helps me is reading about other Christians who have faced the twisting turns of life and come through with rock-solid faith in the God who loves them.
And don’t forget: when God gives courage, he expects us to share that courage with those around us… we are to encourage each other and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
So friend, if God has lobbed a hand-grenade into your plans and canceled them again: if you’re struggling with the disappointment of it all, don’t despair. God is not monkeying with you or your plans.
He’s just got better plans… “plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)
That’s something to remember through this time of upheaval and disappointment!
-Joni Eareckson Tada
Finding God’s Plan for Your Life
Like many siblings in households navigating disability, Maria needed God’s help to understand her own identity, story, and calling. And she wants you to discover what she has: that God is close and trustworthy, and that he has a good plan for your life.
