Trust His Plan
“I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.”
I just love how God chose to include this little reminder of His sovereign care and wisdom in the historical narrative found in Exodus, of how He delivered the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the land He had promised (generations earlier) to bring them to. We seldom – if ever – get to know the reasoning behind His perfect plans (whether in Scripture or in our lives today), but in the above situation, He graciously gives us a glimpse.
In this scenario, it’s not hard to imagine that the Israelites were thinking, “Okay, LORD, You quickly clear out the promised land of those pesky non-Hebrew people, and we’ll just move in, take over, and it will all be good.” But in His infinite wisdom, God knew that such a simple plan would lead to problems, maybe even disaster. He knew that the Israelites had not yet grown in number enough to properly take care of that much real estate. They weren’t ready yet. They eventually would be, but it would take some time. To go in with an insufficient population would lead to large portions of the land being neglected, which would lead to 1) losing fertile farming land to weeds and scrub growth, and 2) the proliferation of dangerous wild animals. And it is ten times more difficult to overcome those obstacles than it is to maintain land that is already being farmed/cared for with pest populations well under control. So God basically said, “If this goes too quickly, you’ll lose control. So we’re going to do this at the perfect pace, using the perfect steps. All you have to do is follow My lead.”
Have you ever found yourself expecting God to do a certain thing, or answer a prayer in a certain way, and it just doesn’t work out how you were hoping? Have you ever been frustrated by an unexpected hindrance to your carefully thought-out plans? Have you been suddenly caught off-guard by something totally unexpected, perhaps even life-altering? It is quite natural to become discouraged – perhaps even disillusioned – when things don’t go quite as we think they ought to or expect them to. From our finite, limited, human perspective, the answers often seem simple enough. And we often expect things to go more quickly than they typically do. We tend to convince ourselves that we are bright enough to figure it out. But we seldom are. That’s why God doesn’t always give us what we ask for, and if He does, it may not be with the timing we desire. That’s exactly when we need to trust Him.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
While that verse may be over-quoted – sometimes even misused, to the point of being cliché – it does communicate a reliable truth that pertains to what we’re talking about. Where we have to be careful is in how we define the word “good” in this verse. It is not meant to suggest ease, worldly prosperity, or a quietness void of any problems or difficulties. “Good” is meant to convey the idea of becoming more Christlike, prepared for an eternity spent with God in sweet fellowship. And sometimes, that preparation requires us to go through some difficult refining. Very rarely (at least on this side of heaven) will we fully understand all the challenges and trials God brings us through. We may not like it when the answer to our prayer is, “No,” or “Wait.” We may get frustrated with unexpected things – things outside of our control – that get in the way of our plans and desires. But if we are in Christ, we must absolutely trust that He knows what He is doing, and is working things out for our ultimate good, and for His perfect purposes. He sees the whole picture, irrespective of time, and knows exactly what each of us needs to grow, and when we need it. But it may not make any sense to us at the time. And we need to be okay with that.
Think of Joseph, and how his brothers sold him into slavery. He was falsely accused and spent years in prison. At the time, the injustice of it wouldn’t have made any sense at all. Yet God knew what was coming, and had a reason for it, and a perfect plan to rescue His people from starvation. (See Gen chapters 37, 39-47.) Even now, as we celebrate the Christmas season, think about how odd it was for God the Father to send His Son to earth to be born as a human baby. And think about how when He grew up and began His ministry, people expected Him to take over and set up an earthly kingdom. Yet He was condemned and crucified on a cross, died, and was buried. Talk about feeling disillusioned! But that wasn’t the end of it. He rose from the dead, proving that He was the Savior of the world.
You see, God knew that it was the only option; it was the only way we could ever truly be reconciled to Him. His plan and timing were perfect.
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Even when things don’t make sense or we don’t understand the purpose of what we’re going through, when we’re waiting and waiting and waiting for an answer to our prayers, or when things just seem totally out of control, remember that they’re not. God has a purpose and a plan – a plan for our ultimate good, that He will work out with perfect timing and with the perfect steps. Trust Him. He is good!
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be glory forever.
Amen.”
