“God alone knows the way to Wisdom,
he knows the exact place to find it.
He knows where everything is on earth,
he sees everything under heaven.
After he commanded the winds to blow
and measured out the waters,
Arranged for the rain
and set off explosions of thunder and lightning,
He focused on Wisdom,
made sure it was all set and tested and ready.
Then he addressed the human race: ‘Here it is!
Fear-of-the-Lord—that’s Wisdom,
and Insight means shunning evil.’” Job 28:23-28
Recently I have been caught up with my own understanding of God’s designs. A while back God gave me a directive to pursue a certain avenue of ministry. I did. I laid out the whole plan. I organized. I vision-casted. I dreamed. And it’s not going how I thought it would.
Oh, I imagine something will come of it. This thing will bear fruit, but I am beginning to realize the chances of the ministry looking like the picture I drew of it are getting pretty slim. I was stomping around in my heart about that the other night and then God reminded me that He was not surprised by any development I was facing. He reminded me that He was familiar with every twist and turn the road of vision had taken so far. He also knows about a few more twists and turns that are up ahead. Oh and by the way, He’s not sharing!
Today He is reminding me that the results of my work are to be left with Him. In most cases the results I plan are not the results I will end up with because they come from my limited understanding of the way between me and the proposed destination. My job is not to make things happen. My job is to fear the Lord, obey what He says to do and keep my heart from evil when things don’t go “my way”.
Maybe through some circuitous route things will get back on my track and everything will turn out just like I had envisioned. Maybe I’ll strike spiritual gold and the results will be even better than I could have imagined. Maybe the reason God told me to pursue this route has nothing to do with the actual destination and has more to do with what I or somebody else I run across gets out of the journey. Only God knows! And that’s just as it should be.
Lillie-Put 
Thanks so much for sharing about this, Pastor J. I want to remember that it doesn’t mean I failed just because something didn’t turn out the way I was envisioning it. I just can’t see what He sees right now. God bless you through every twist and turn!
Thanks Deb. He is always blessing. Sometimes I just don’t recognize the blessings for what they are.
It took us a very long time to figure out that only God knows (in other words that we DON’T know) where the road will take us. You know my story–because of what I had heard/seen, I thought I knew what the future would look like. After years of thinking we knew what we were doing (we didn’t)k we’re finally beginning to get the hang of just facing each day, listening to God’s direction in the present moment, not letting our enthusiasm (and ambition) cause us to strive for our own little dream of the future.
The present hasn’t turned out, in any way, to resemble what I envisioned. It is, however, exceedingly and abundantly more than I ever asked for or imagined. More–referring to heavenly treasures and spiritual comforts, not worldly facsimiles of them.
We all know about “Let go and let God,” about living “one day at a time;” but who of us actually puts that wisdom into practice? You said, “Maybe the reason God told me to pursue this route has nothing to do with the actual destination and has more to do with what I or somebody else I run across gets out of the journey.”
I’m of the opinion that all our earthly dreams, visions and goals (destinations) are just directional arrows on the way to where we’re really going. We often confuse them with the prize/reward that’s been promised to us.
You’ve opened a critically important topic. Well done!
Thanks Ken. It us a lesson I keep coming back to. Like all learned subjects it’s acquisition requires practice. How fortunate are we to be continually embroiled in the complexities of God’s plan?
This is exactly what God has been speaking to me over the past several weeks. These are the two verses I keep coming back to; We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9(NLT); You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. Proverbs 19:21(NLT). I have to learn to hand Jesus the wheel before I even start out.
Amen!!!
Hi Pastor “J”….thanks for this reminder…..sometimes the fruit that God is seeking in the carrying out of His directed plan is simply our obedience, not the various outcomes we believe will materialize as a result of our obedience, and sometimes He puts us through the “ropes” of ineffectiveness first so when the fruit of the plan do start to appear, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is not by our might, nor by our power, but by His Spirit that the “success” is manifested, and sometimes, it’s about connecting with or ministering to someone along the way and not even about the plan itself…..I believe the bottom line is that it’s a matter of trust because it’s all truly about Him….thanks for sharing that post…….:)
You are most welcome Kim. The longer I serve Him the more I come to understand, with Him it is not just about the destination. It is about the journey!