"For I know the plans that I have for you. They are plans for good and not for disaster. Plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11
Have you ever been scared that if you fully submit to God’s will for your life you’ll end up being a hermit and knitting Jesus sweaters in your room? Or maybe that you'll end up marrying someone that's heavily involved in church, but you're not necessarily "in love" with them? Or my favorite, He’ll place you in a foreign land like Zimbabwe to do missionary work? Lol I know these were all thoughts that crossed my mind when I kept feeling a tug to be more committed in my walk with Christ. I mean don’t get me wrong, I love the Lord with all my heart, but the thought of not being truly happy and satisfied in life was a humongous fear of mine. I thought that submitting to God’s will for my life would mean me becoming a loner and walking around quoting Bible scriptures all day and when I wasn’t doing that or eating/sleeping I was supposed to be praying. I had a very misconstrued view on what a "committed" relationship with Christ meant. Although the Christian lifestyle does require much, God already knows our deepest heart's desires. In fact, God knows us better than we know ourselves. When we talk about God’s level of love for us, we have to remember that because He IS love….it’s impossible for Him to withhold the very best possible things for us in our lives.
"We get so caught up in how we always expect things to work out and then God comes in and shakes that whole plan up!!!"
One thing that I struggle with is over analyzing every situation. It’s actually a blessing in a curse. On one end, I always think things ALL the way through which result in me making very well-thought-out decisions. However, I’ve also found this to be a curse when trying to compete with my own logic and God’s infinite power. I try to figure out what God is doing in my life off my own limited perspective. In all honesty, I actually find myself attempting to think like God. I try to figure out what's going to happen next, when it's going to happen, where, etc. Some may say I'm a planner and I just like to think ahead, nothing wrong with that. However, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 3:5-6 that we are to TRUST in the Lord with ALL our heart…..and here’s the hardest part (well for me anyway)…. AND DON'T DEPEND ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. Whew! This scripture is my life verse, but yet it’s ironically the hardest scripture to put into practice for me. I know I’m not the only one who struggles with this lol. It’s so hard to not depend on your own understanding….especially when you think you know what’s best for you! We get so caught up in how we always expect things to work out and then God comes in and shakes that whole plan up!!!! But despite how He shakes things up, we must always trust and obey Him. ESPECIALLY when we don’t understand! That’s the point! Lol. God wants us to get to a point in our faith where even when we can’t make sense of anything, we can still say, “but Lord, I trust You.” Believe me this is wayyyyy easier said than done, but we can’t keep using the excuse, “one day I’ll get to that point.” If we truly desire to trust God, we have to put this in to practice EVERY SINGLE DAY.
God is not the Riddler from Batman. He doesn’t want us to walk around being confused, unhappy, or disappointed….but these things kick in when we try to match our point of view with God’s point of view. We will never be able to think like Him and no matter how well we get to know Him, we’ll never be able to predict His ways! But if we can just get to place where we stop trying to figure Him out and stop trying to push what we want and what we think we need and just trust Him…..He will blow our minds. I say it all the time, God is God for a reason. He’s Sovereign…..He can do what He wants to do, when He wants to do it and how He chooses to do it. All He asks us to do in return is trust Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 is a scripture that I quote to myself literally every day. I have to constantly remind myself to place my full trust in God and not just rely on my own logic about what I think is best for me. Then as we find in verse 6…..it says that God will show us which path to take. That’s why we trust Him. We don’t know what our future holds, but we must learn to place our whole heart in the One who does. He see’s our ending just as clear as He see’s our beginning..…and you’ll find once you start trusting Him, you’ll end up exactly where you were supposed to be all along.
-Leah
Bible Study
*For more dealing with this topic, check out the following scriptures:
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