“O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.” Isaiah 25:1
God has great plans for our personal lives, our marriages and families, our local congregations, our towns, states, and nation. The above passage and many others make that clear. Circumstances on the other hand often would beg to differ. Recently to deepen my faith and trust in this truth, and to grow in my knowledge of God as the Strategic Planner and Plan Accomplisher that He is, I had to write down this verse and some others on a 3x5 card and read/pray over it every morning.
Often in conversation with young adults (18-40 yrs. old), Anne and I note deep concern over their ability to discover and fulfill their careers and find the right marriage partner and experience personal peace. Often in conversation these days with adults over 40, and especially seniors who are watching our nation unravel in ways never seen by them before, there is great anxiety about the future of our nation, and about their passing from this earth into the presence of our righteous Judge, to whom we will all give an account.
It seems to me, no matter what our age, that all of our fears and insecurities and other sins, ultimately result from a faulty knowledge of God and His works and ways. Great comfort for myself, and encouragement for others has come from three basic truths.
First, our God is a brilliant and strategic planner. King Jesus knows everything about the future of His creation, and He never misses a detail in working out His plans. God in His manifold wisdom set these plans in motion before the creation of the Universe, which includes things like our salvation (“…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…” Eph. 1:4).
Second, He powerfully, perfectly and completely fulfills all of His plans. Nothing can stand in His way. Nothing can distract Him or deter Him.
And third, the Holy Spirit desires to reveal these plans to us as we learn to meditate in the scriptures, hear His voice, know His person, will, ways, works, etc., Please know that all of His plans for you if you are His child come out of His goodness and intense love for you.
Our world appears to be increasingly unraveling at the seams. But this in no way affects God’s plans and purposes. So, this would be a wonderful time for you and I to strive to know our God as One who set plans for the nations, for His church, for our families, and for you and I; and as One who will absolutely fulfill every good plan and purpose that concerns us.
I therefore submit the following scriptures for your meditation and encouragement. And in submitting them, please note that many of these promises or declarations were initially and specifically given to Israel. But this aspect of God’s nature (as seen in the Old Testament in His dealings with Israel) does not change.
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?”
Job 23:13,14 – “But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such decrees are with Him.”
Psalm 139:14-16 – “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
Isaiah 46:9—11 – “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, “My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure; Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.”
Jeremiah 29:11 – “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.”
Jeremiah 30:24 – “The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has performed and until He has accomplished The intent of His heart; In the latter days you will understand this.”
May the Lord reveal Himself to every person who reads this as the God who makes plans, fulfills His plans, and reveals His plans to those who walk with Him.