In January of 2020, we all had a one-year forecast, a budget that we labored over for months to get just right. We had marketing plans and sale strategies. We had performance goals that were set and rolled out to our teams. We made plans…then March 2020 happened.
We were all blindsided!
Have you ever planned for one thing to happen, only to be shaken by a different outcome?
We are currently in Easter week, which is an incredible time to pause and reflect upon the amazing things that Christ accomplished for us. He resurrected from the dead, conquered death, covered our sin, reconciled us to the Father, and made way for us to enter into His Kingdom.
As Christians, there is no better news than this.
It is a time that we rejoice as we praise God for the sacrifice of His son for us, and for the saving power that He displayed in both His death and resurrection.
During Jesus’s time on earth, there were many misconceptions that the messiah, Jesus, came as a physical savior, a powerful, earthly king that would deliver the Jews from Roman oppression and establish an independent Jewish kingdom. Even those closest to Him likely held this same belief.
When they captured Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, a series of events begins leading to His death and burial. This blindsided his followers.
In the flesh it looks as if their dream had died along with Jesus. The hope of freedom from oppression was gone. All they had believed and followed for the last three years, during Jesus’s ministry, was all for nothing.
In short, It was over.
BUT! God was thinking bigger!
His will all along was not for temporary freedom from temporary oppression, but eternal freedom from eternal damnation. He was living out Isaiah 55:8-9, where He proclaims, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
If the Jews had had their way, if the outcome that they were hoping and planning for in their earthly thinking had occurred, then all of humanity would still be, and forever be, under the oppression of sin and death.
Sometimes, when things don’t go our way. God is doing something so much bigger and so much better.
Sometimes, what feels like a derailment of our earthly plans is God realigning us to His eternal plans.
Proverbs 16:9 puts it this way, “A man’s heart plans his way,” but it does not stop there. It goes on to say, “BUT the Lord directs his steps.”
While having our “January of 2020” plans is important, we must never forget to leave room for the Lord to direct our steps. That way, when our plans get derailed as they did in March of 2020, we can rest assured that God is in control and directing our steps and that His eternal plans will come to pass.
To wrap things up, I’d like to leave you with two words of encouragements to help get through today and through any other time where you may feel derailed:
- “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” -Isaiah 55:8-9
- “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” -Romans 8:28
Be encouraged today that the Lord is on your side, that His ways are higher than your ways, and that He is working for your good.