When Our Plans Go Awry

     Back in January, I had successful partial replacement of my left knee.  I completed therapy just before the COVID lockdown.  In fact, I had the surgery so I could be ready for a cruise we planned to take with our daughter and her family in March.  Thankfully, we were able to get a refund on our cancelled cruise, and we were so grateful we were not stuck on a ship somewhere in a port.  We certainly had made our plans carefully a full year in advance, but as we all know, things happen.

     Recently, while out on a walk, I started having a lot of pain in my post op knee requiring me to consult

my surgeon.  It seems I somehow injured the outside of the knee that had not been replaced.  Now I am faced with new problems and a need for a wise decision none of which was expected or planned.  Isn't it funny that life happens while we are making other plans?  The Bible even agrees with this.  Proverbs 16:9 tells us:  "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."  Then, in Proverbs 19:21, we read:  "Many plans are in a man's heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail."  Finally in Jeremiah 10:23 says:  "I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps."  There we have it.  The final say on the course of our lives is really not in our hands at all but in God's hands.

     Honestly, I cannot say why things happen the way they do.  We all wonder why this terrible virus was unleashed on the world.  What purpose could it possibly serve?  Or why did "so and so" have to die when they did?  There are many questions that we have no answers to even though we look high and low.  Yet, we have to remember several things.

     First, we live in a fallen world.  The once beautiful paradise that Adam and Even inhabited had no flaws, problems, or challenges.  They were created to care for the creatures and tend God's creation.  Both of them were the crown of all the Lord had made.  Then Satan entered the picture in the form of a snake and beguiled Eve painting her a picture of a God who was holding out on them and did not want them to have His wisdom.  We know the rest of the story.  Eve took the first bite of the forbidden fruit followed by Adam.  The ramifications of their actions have been with us ever since.  They were cast from the garden and told:  ....."cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:17c-19).  To the woman, God said she would bear children in pain.  All of this due to disobedience, and we, their children, inherit not only their sin nature but also the curse of a fallen creation.  Therefore, life is not going to be easy.  We will have difficulties in this world and Jesus affirmed that to us in His Word (John 16:33).  But...the promise is that Jesus Christ will come again, and those who belong to Him will live with Him in a new heaven and a new earth with no more weeping, heartache and loss.

     Secondly, we often cannot see the bigger picture of what God is doing when trials come our way.  We see as "through a glass darkly" (I Corinthians 13:12) like the Apostle Paul said.  We only know in part what God is doing.  He hasn't told us everything.  Instead, we are to trust in Him who is the Sovereign over all the earth.  He is "working all things together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).  We may not be able to see it yet, but this is what faith is all about "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).  Let me illustrate.

     When I work on embroidery, I am looking at the top of my work where I make different types of stitches to paint a picture with thread.  As I work, the picture emerges and looks beautiful.  However, if we examine the bottom side of my creation, all we see is knots, and threads that don't resemble any lovely picture.  We, as God's creation, see life like that from the bottom side of the work.  We don't have the Lord's perspective.  What looks like a knot to us may be a beautiful beginning in God's plan.  This is why we are called to trust the Master artist of our lives.

     Finally, we must remember that the life we have been given was for the purpose of God's glory not ours.  I think that is the hardest part for the self centered sin nature we are born with in this life.  It's not about us....it's all about God!  The first question of the Catechism says:  "What is the chief end of man?" (Westminster Catechism).  Answer:  "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever."  With this in mind, we can accept the plan changes, fast detours, sudden stops and inconveniences that come with this journey here.  God is preparing us for an eternity with Him in heaven where our citizenship lies.  This is not our home for we are passing through needing the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit.  So, if your plans, like mine, go awry, remember that He is putting together a great masterpiece which we simply cannot see yet.  We must trust Him just as Jeremiah said in one of my favorite verses 29:11:  "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."  Selah!