God Knows His Plans For Us But How Do We?

 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. (NIV- Jeremiah 29:11)

From the NABRE edition of the Bible, the passage reads,

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the Lord—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.”

In either case, the passage simply reads that God has some plans for us. The key would appear to be that we have to be ready to hear, listen and act on them.

Sure, God May Know The Plan But How Do We?

We may not be able to see His plans in exact detail, that is, on the 12th Oct this will happen and on the 30th Nov that will happen.  However, we can make at least some preliminary judgments about His plans.  For example, we can know with certainty that He will never go against Scriptures.  Yes, of course, we may get a bit confused from time to time about a particular passage or even a chapter, but if we explore a bit, we will see that He never will violate His word in Scripture and that do not kill thing is still in effect. If you believe that He is telling you something different from what He has already said, it may not be Him who is doing the speaking.

Equally telling is the small, still, quiet interior voice.  God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us along our paths.  So long as what we are doing, or the path we are trying to explore is not in violation of the small still interior voice, we are probably alright.  If the action or considered action causes us any sort of distress, it is most likely not in accordance with God’s plans for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 As a Constant

Given that God cannot lie, and given that He told us in this verse that He has a plan for us, we believe that it is true.  We can explore other Scriptural passages to verify what He has told us.  Proverbs 16:9 tells us quite clearly that, “The human heart plans the way, but the LORD directs the steps.

Psalm 32:8 reminds us that, “I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk, give you counsel with my eye upon you.” With that sort of assurance, we can know that He will provide us some gentle prodding to keep us in touch with His plan for us.

There are probably dozens of other passages we can use as well, but, the last one to be listed here is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths.” While this may not speak directly to God’s plan, it does tell us that if keep doing the next right thing ( this presumes we are doing the right thing now, then the next things as it is presented to us, then the next, etc., always trying to do the next right thing. ) and don’t worry about the small stuff, He will get us from here to there.

In these quotes, we are told also that we can essentially ignore the petty day-to-day stuff and look for God’s plans not on an immediate basis, but on a longer view. God’s timeline and ours are clearly not the same.  Consider that He created the world in six days and we are here during the seventh day.  The world has been here for over 4 billion years, so God’s plan may not reach completion on the 23rd of June in 2018, our task is to keep His plan in mind, follow our path, pay attention to the Holy Spirit and wait.

Using Others to Identify His Plans

Frequently, God may use others to help us see or pursue our path.  For example, when he was considering a delayed vocation entry into a seminary, a friend of mine and I had several conversations about his chosen path, was it right, was the timing correct, how did he know it was His will for him, if he had waited this long could another couple of years matter and myriad other questions were considered before he entered the seminary and is now a Catholic priest.

If my friend was not to have entered the seminary, he would have had many more questions, moments of disquiet, feelings of being ill at ease, etc.  Bear in mind, however, that from time to time, God may ask you to go against popular trends, go against societal norms, and strike out on your own.  Consider Noah in this case, God spoke to him and told him to ignore the people around him, and build a boat the size of a small aircraft carrier ( not quite, but it may have looked that big to the people in the neighborhood ).

God’s Plans in Retrospect

I am over seventy years old, and when I examine the major changes in my life thus far, I believe I can see His hand at work.  I am nowhere near being able to see God’s plan for me in all of its details, but, it may be a bit too early for that as yet.

Charles Spurgeon, an English preacher once commented that “Young men, trust God, and make the future bright with blessing. Old men, trust God, and magnify him for all the mercies of the past.”

This is correct when I review the various changes in my life and look forward to the next phases He may have planned for me.  He has blessed me with things I could not dream of when I was a teen, and He has taken me to some interesting places simply to use the skills I acquired in other jurisdictions.

I have no idea what is next, but so long as I understand that He cannot fib, that He is always watching my steps, and He will use others to provide a sounding board for me, all I need to do is the next right thing, and everything will work out in accordance with His plan for me.