There are things in our life for which we pray for direction. We seek God’s guidance and will regarding the steps we should take, the decisions we need to make or the path that we should follow. He does, whether we stop and listen or not, tell us what we should do. There are times when he tells us his perfect will but then it seems that instead of it working out, it just gets to be more and more impossible. Perhaps when he first told us his will or what he was going to do, you could see how it could be, you could work out in your mind how he could cause it to come to fruition. But then… a delay here, a bad choice there, someone’s interference and now you cannot see how it can ever be as you believe God told you. The situation went from “Possible but unlikely” to “Impossible and unlikely.” So what do you do when it makes that change to the impossible? You come up with a back-up plan. In your mind, or perhaps on a piece of paper, you work out what you will do if God doesn’t come through. “Ok, if God doesn’t supply the money for my electric bill as I believe he told me he would, I will just ask so-n-so for a loan.” “Just in case God doesn’t bring me the companion that I believe that he told me he will, I will keep this one as my ‘friend’ on the side – just in case.” “It doesn’t look like God is going to save my loved one, so I will just give up on it so I won’t get disappointed twice (once when she isn’t saved and the second when God fails me).” There are so many examples of how we come up with back-up plans for that “just in case” moments.
I have harped/nagged/preached about the dangers of having a back-up plan for God and his will. I have written how we just need to have faith and believe. I have told of how having a back-up plan sabotages the very thing for which we are believing God. Well I must admit, I almost fell for this one too – on several fronts. There are things that I have prayed about, sought God’s direction for, and, I believe, heard God’s voice regarding. But life has happened… delays, bad choices, interference, etc. so I have concocted a back-up plan. A plan that will help me “save face,” a plan that will keep me from looking foolish for believing in something so impossible, a plan that, though not my true heart’s desire, is a reasonable substitute. After much time of battling between the real plan (the one I believe God showed me) and my back-up plan, it has come down to where the rubber meets the road, time to put up or shut up, time to believe or quit. Perhaps it was only a battle for me because I have trouble dealing with things I cannot control and for me to keep believing, rather than settling for my back-up plan, causes me to have to completely surrender control. After much soul searching, after much talking, I have decided that I absolutely will not settle for my back-up plan. God’s plan, regardless of how impossible it may seem, is really the best one for me. Why settle for second rate when you can have the ultimate? So I will sit and wait on the salvation of the Lord – he hasn’t failed me yet and I don’t think he will start now.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
I believe one day very soon I will be able to testify regarding this fantastic work that God is doing. Until then keep me in your prayers.
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