IT SEEMS THAT in this day and age, we live in a busy, busy world—too busy sometimes! We expect so much of ourselves. It seems that we constantly have to learn more and do more to try to keep up with the world around us. And we expect a great deal not only from ourselves but from other people . . . and even from God!
At times I’ve been so busy that I’ve felt as though I was in a whirlwind, just trying to hold on! Have you ever felt that way? At one time or another, most of us have thought that if we could just get control of our life, we’d have it made. We’ve thought that if we could just organize our life, we’d be set!
Over and over, we’re admonished, “Take charge of your life!” Then we feel guilty because we think we haven’t done a very good job of taking charge of it. So we buy a new planner, read a new time management book, or even attend a seminar that we think will help us do better and accomplish more. Then we get frustrated when all these things don’t seem to make us feel any more in control!
Many times we look at negative things in our lives so much that all we see is what we’re not instead of what we are!
Control Can Be an Issue
Control can sometimes be a big issue for many people . . . including me! I am a very organized person and very much a perfectionist. I was the type who wanted to plan my life from A to Z. I wanted to know exactly what I would be doing in five years, 10 years, and 20 years! That was very important to me. I had the attitude, “God, I want to commit my life to You. I know that I’m called to work for You, so just show me the plan—the whole plan.” And I prided myself in having fairly good charge of my life. But that was the problem: I was in charge of my life, not God.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB95) says, “ ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’ ” Notice that God has a plan, and it’s His plan, not our plan. Yet one of the most difficult things for us to do is commit to God’s plan instead of our own.
Did you know that God doesn’t need any help planning our lives? And His ways are so much higher than our ways (Isa. 55:8–9). The best thing we can do is get “self” out of the way and say, “Lord, not my will, but Yours be done.” But that’s not always easy, because we think we can plan our own life—or at least help God along with the plan.
God has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives. How do we fulfill that plan? He tells us in His Word.
PROVERBS 3:5–6
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Yes, God has a plan for your life. But even the right plan executed at the wrong time can become a disaster. That’s why it’s so important that each of us says, “Okay, Lord, I may not understand the path You’re leading me on, but I accept that path. And I will walk on that path peaceably. I will do that because I know that the end result of Your plans for me are welfare (the state of doing well) and not calamity. You are planning to give me a future and a hope!”
The Right Path at the Right Time
I think many times about those people in the Bible who wholly followed God. What if they had not walked on the right path at the right time? Most of us know the story of Esther. The king had been convinced by one of his advisers to send out a decree saying that all the Jews should be killed. The king didn’t know that the queen he had chosen—Queen Esther—was a Jew herself.
The Jews were desperate, and Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, sent word to her, saying, in effect, “Don’t think that you will be spared just because you’re the queen. If all the Jews are killed, you will be killed too.” Then he delivered that great message: “and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)!
And you have “come to the Kingdom for such a time as this”! In this day and hour, it will take all of us getting into our rightful places to bring back the King. Whether we’re called to be ministers of the Gospel, businessmen and women, professionals, housewives—whatever our particular gift and calling—we all have a place in God’s plan.
You may be saying, “Lynette, I still don’t know my purpose in life.” I encourage you to get down on your knees and say to God, “I’m not going to let You go until You tell me Your purpose for me.” Pray as you’ve never prayed before, because you do have a purpose. Your calling was from birth. God made you different from anyone else, and He thinks you’re wonderful! David said, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14).
We need to thank God for the way He has made us. We have God-given talents, so we need to meditate on that and not on all the negative things in our lives. I’m not saying we can’t grow and change. But many times, we look at negative things in our lives so much that all we see is what we’re not instead of what we are!
Determine to discover and fulfill God’s plan for your life. Don’t let anything stop you—not fear or distrust or anything else that would hinder or distract you from the good things God has planned for you to accomplish. You can’t do it by yourself. But with His guidance and His strength and ability, you can do it! If I can, you can!
Author
Lynette Hagin
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