Stones of Plans: Our’s or God’s

Many of us start each day with a plan. We get up at a certain time, eat a certain meal, leave for work to accomplish a certain goal.

Our daily plans support our long-term plans: We plan to get married, have children, build a home and career, retire, be healthy….

There are times, however, when our best laid plans go up in smoke! They can be thwarted by our own misadventure, by another person’s poor choices, or by circumstances beyond our control. 

What happens though if God’s is the one who intervenes in our plans? Do we struggle and fight against His plan, or pause to consider trusting Him to provide what we need to walk the path He has chosen for us?

“This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.”, (Matthew 1:18-19, NLT)

Joseph must have been a man of excellent character because he had every legal right to have Mary stoned to death for being pregnant with a child that wasn’t his. (Think about the woman caught in adultery and all the people wanting to stone her to death) Instead, he created a ‘Plan B’ and chose to break the engagement quietly to protect her.

Joseph was at a cross-roads and logically weighed things and and made a good and honorable decision. He decided to divorce Mary quietly instead of persecuting her and having her punished. A person could easily see the “kindness” of his response as a Godly one. 

There was only one problem with this…even though it was a good decision, it wasn’t a GOD decision! Fortunate for us, Joseph didn’t get stuck in his own reasoning and his perfect plan. He showed himself receptive to God’s plan by listening to the message God sent to him through an angel.

“As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.”,(Matthew 1:20, NLT)

Fortunately for us, Joseph had a heart to listen to God and make the tough decision to let release his ‘Plan B’ to what he could easily call ‘Plan C’.

“When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.”,(Matthew 1:24,NLT)

How many time have we had to change plans because something derailed our original idea of how we wanted something to go? We move from Plan A to Plan B, from B to C, sometimes it can feel as if we don’t find a true course of action util we are on plans  R, S, or T. 

Even though Joseph would probably tell you that the plan he accepted was his ‘Plan C’, in actuality it was God’s ‘Plan A’.

I’d like to encourage you today to pause. Allow God to speak to you in your circumstances. Even though your plan may be a GOOD plan, doesn’t mean it’s God’s PERFECT plan. He may be arranging things to change the world through your thwarted plans and circumstances.

Dear God, help me trust that when my plans fail, you have a better one that I just haven’t seen yet. I release my own expectations to you and allow you room to work in the details and circumstances in my life to bring glory to you. Help me learn to hear your voice clearly enough so that my Plan A lines up with your Plan A. I think you for this in. In Jesus’ name I pray~ Amen