Winging It

I don’t know what God’s plan for my life is. Or at least not the whole plan. I can guess at certain elements it may include, considering the talents and environments I’ve been given. But right now I’m not even sure what the next step is.

Sometimes I wish that my Heavenly Father would just reveal it all to me – maybe in a nice visual flowplan, depicting exactly what’s going to take place and when and how I need to behave. At times it seems that would simplify everything and take all the pressure off trying to live off the cuff. After all, planning is biblical.

But when I’m honest with myself, I know that it’s to our benefit that God does not usually reveal His plans more than one step at a time.

If you knew what was coming, would it honestly relieve the pressure?

Wouldn’t you worry more about how to handle the situation that’s coming up? Wouldn’t you spend hours planning how to behave and agonising over whether you’re strong enough or skilled enough or godly enough to handle the circumstances successfully?

Matthew 6:34 says that one should not worry about tomorrow, as each day has enough worries of its own.

Right now I can certainly testify to the truth in that. With everything that’s going on today, I couldn’t handle the stress of trying to figure out how to cope with whatever’s coming in the next few months or weeks or even the next few days!

Living God’s plan one step at a time is certainly more exciting than being able to predict the end of the story. It is also comforting in a way, because you know that as long as you’re relying on God to reveal the plan, He’s always going to be around. When you don’t know what’s lurking around the corner you’re not likely to let go of God’s Hand and give Him the “Thanks, but I can take it from here” treatment.

More likely you’re going to be squeezing His fingers with all the might of your sweaty little hands and surreptitiously edging into the shelter of His empowering wings. As long as you’re there, you know you’ll always be safe, no matter where you go or what you face.

So I’ve learnt to plan my course, but let God direct my steps.