Even if things don't go according to my plan

"The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations." (Psalm 33:11)

 

 

These days, the Holy Spirit dwelling in me has been inspiring me to sing a certain hymn. The hymn is "Thank You, Lord, for Saving Me." Although I don’t have all the lyrics memorized, just thinking of the opening line "Thank You, Lord, for saving me" and singing it brings me joy and strength. The more I sing this hymn, the more my heart overflows with gratitude. This gratitude isn’t only for the lyrics "Thank you for the rose, thank you also for the thorns" or "Thank you for the prayers answered, thank you for those rejected." Even though I think I would be more thankful if God answered all my prayers, or if roses had no thorns, the indwelling Holy Spirit leads me to see things from God’s perspective. He teaches me to be thankful even when my prayers are unanswered, and to thank Him for the thorns and the sufferings He allows in my faith journey.

In particular, the Holy Spirit helps me believe that, even in circumstances where things do not go as I planned or thought, God has His plans and purposes. He teaches me to accept the reality when things don’t go my way, and more importantly, to pray that God's will and plan would be fulfilled: “Not my will, but Your will be done,” “Not my plans, but Your plans be done.”

Proverbs 19:21 says: “Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.” What does this mean? First, this verse tells us that there are many plans in the heart of a person. This means that while living on earth, we are to make various plans. It would be a mistaken and irresponsible faith stance to live saying, "Only God’s will should be done, and I don’t need to make any plans." However, even though we plan our way, we must remember that it is God who directs our steps (Proverbs 16:9). And we must earnestly desire that only God’s will be fully established. Whether through our plans or in other ways, we must pray that God’s sovereign will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In today’s passage from Psalm 33:11, we see that “the counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.” In other words, God’s plan and purpose for His heart are eternal. God’s heart, which loves justice and righteousness (v.5), and is honest and truthful (v.4), is the heart from which God sovereignly establishes His plan, a plan that lasts for generations. And He is true (v.4), so everything He does is true (v.4). Therefore, what He has spoken will surely be fulfilled (v.9).

Let us look at Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Our God is faithful and will certainly fulfill what He has spoken. Also, in Isaiah 55:11, we read: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” The word that comes from God's mouth never returns empty but always accomplishes His will and brings prosperity to His work.

How comforting this is for us! Because God is faithful (Psalm 33:4), and He will surely fulfill what He has promised (v.9), we can have hope. What hope is that? The hope that God's promises will be fulfilled. With this hope, we can endure and persevere. With this hope, we can rejoice even in tribulation and quietly fulfill our mission. With this hope, we do not shy away from bearing the marks of Jesus on our bodies, but rather we consider them glorious (see Galatians 6:17).

Therefore, even if our plans are not realized, we have no choice but to give thanks to God (see Psalm 33:10). Even if things don't go according to our thoughts, we can only give God songs of praise. Since God has already fulfilled, is fulfilling, and will fulfill the salvation He promised us in Christ Jesus, we cannot help but give thanks to God for our entire lives, and give thanks in everything.