Our Plan Vs. His Purpose.

It is very human of us to want to “know”; we yearn for security and ease of conscience. We believe that if we only knew how the future would go, then we wouldn’t worry so much about it.

This, though, is not the case, as we can never truly be sure what might happen, nor would that likely change our attitude toward it. This said, our life happens somewhere between free will and fate. What’s meant to happen will happen, but some things will only come about once you seek them out.

Ultimately, God alone knows and weaves His plan, yet He invites us to take part and contribute to the story we want to tell while on this earth. While none of us knows the answers, as none of us knows tomorrow, I have found that the following understanding, questions, and frameworks together help provide both clarity and peace when seeking God’s will amid the haze of all our “plans.”

Ask Job, Jonah, Esther, or any other Biblical hero why God does things the way that He does, and they may all give you a slightly different answer. One may say it is God’s right to do so; the next, it’s God’s nature; and the other, that it’s all “for such a time as this.” His ways are mysterious and beyond us, but they’re beautiful for that same reason.

It may seem frustrating that God provides the dream and not the plan for how to get there, but if He gave us the whole blueprint, many of us would choose to stay comfortable, prioritizing present pleasure over future victory. He gave Joseph the vision of his brothers bowing down to him in a position of royal power; He left out the part where he has to endure years in prison. Abraham was told about his many descendants and a great inheritance of land, but he was not fully informed about the 25 years of waiting it would take for his promised son. God showed Noah the ark, even when the world had never seen rain. Scripture records many such accounts, and today we stand in a similar position, between a calling and *what to do about it *when the path gets slippery, there’s a fork in the road, or, in some cases, we get lost entirely.

In light of all this, discerning when to take things into our own hands and when to give it up to God becomes quite important. The Lord forewarned us of this need and, of course, provided us with certain gifts to help us, such as prayer, seeking counsel, and fasting. All this said, here are two tangible tools I have personally found that have been a true help in discerning my plan and His will:

The first is this specific prayer, a mirror of the very line Jesus taught us to pray in the *Our Father *when He said: “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Notice how this line comes before “Give us this day our daily bread.” Here Jesus reminds us to welcome God’s ultimate plan over any of our desires. In the order of operations, it’s handing the keys over to God to let Him drive before ever asking if we can make a pit stop. I have come to think of it as a pair of hands reaching out to receive. Those that stay closed and tight, God will need to pry open to put something in or take anything out. But those that come open and willing, God can easily work with them because they are willing. He both gives and takes away, but the process is always made simpler when the heart posture is open.

The second method I have found extremely helpful for discerning decisions and seeing how they align with God’s will is asking a simple question: “Is this a yes or a no … today?” Sometimes we feel so overwhelmed by the grand, uncertain future that we stop taking it day by day and get confused. We send ourselves into spirals of “what if I get it wrong,” or “what if that’s not what God actually said.” In moments like these, I stop and remind myself of the conviction I had when I first made the decision, and then ask myself whether, on that very day, the decision remains the same. Should I stay with this thing, “today”? Yes or no? Should I try one more time … “today”? Yes or no. Eventually, you will notice that by taking it one day at a time, you will have much more peace and confidence in your choices. You will also notice that, when done properly, seeking the Lord’s will daily with this question will slowly reveal when it is time for a shift. Slowly, a yes or a no might come with a heads-up to start thinking about something different, and one day that decision may suddenly change: what was once a yes may now be a no, or vice versa.

Some call it your “gut feeling” or your intuition. My family and I call it your God Feeling. Engaging it daily keeps it sharp and ready for the moments that matter.

—

I have found that each of these methods is a conduit for deepening your faith, rather than living blindly or “following along just because you were told.” Although we often won’t have all the details, we can trust the character of the one giving the instructions to provide the credibility we need to take the next step.

The past two articles, covering when to Push Or Pivot or how to interpret different life costs as Fees or Fines, in combination with today’s tools, have all built up to this ultimate understanding: God will always do His part, but He requires us to do ours too.

We are called to live in active participation with our Purpose rather than passively and idly. Sometimes we know where we’re going but not how to get there. No matter, what matters is knowing who is leading us along the way.

This week, have peace in knowing you don’t have to know or understand the whole plan; God only needs you to take that next step. And then? The one after that.

• Making The Most Of Being Curious

Daniel J. Cuesta

~ Wednesdays Of Wisdom ~

Share

Sources:

**God’s Ultimate Will Triumphs, Yet We Are Still Invited To Stir Our Hearts With Dreams: **Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. - Proverbs 19:21

**Concern Yourself With Today, Tomorrow Takes Care Of Itself: **Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:34

Seek God And He Will Provide You With The Wisdom You Need: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. - James 1:5