6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the people of the world revere him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
11 But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.
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What strikes me in this passage is the contrast in the last two verses between the plans and purposes of the nations and those of the Lord.
“God must have a plan.” “God has his purposes.” We often hear – and maybe say – things like this when going through hard times. It is a source of comfort – or a sign that we’re looking for comfort – to point to the plans and purposes of the Lord over against the apparent chaos and struggles we’re experiencing. If what we’re going through, as unpleasant as it is, is actually part of a plan by God, we can hang in there, because we know that His plans ultimately will be for good (Romans 8:28).
It is comforting to know that God has a plan and a purpose. But we aren’t to press this too hard or too far lest we end up looking at God like a puppet master, and we are merely acting in a play that He has scripted. There are other players in this drama, not the least of which is Satan and His minions. And each one of us, along with the people around us, has a free will which enables us at any point to turn away from God’s plans and reject His purposes.
That fact that we are going through hard times may very well be the result of the work of evil in our lives, spiritual warfare. Or it could be that people around us are freely choosing to make bad, non-God-pleasing choices. Or it could be that we are making choices that are taking us away from God’s will. Regardless, we can find ourselves in a bad place that is not where God wants us to be and not where He has purposed and planned for us to be.
But God is like the GPS navigator in our cars or on our phones. No matter where we are or how we got there, He will recalculate the new path forward to the plans and purposes that are in our future. In other words, the plans and purposes of God may not be presently manifest in our lives because they always refer to the future, to where He is leading and calling us. One of the facets of the beauty and mystery of our God is that He uses even the evil and brokenness around us as fuel and tools in his constantly recalculated plans.
The result? Comfort. Peace. Hope. Regardless of how we got where we are – and whether God had anything to do with it – when we are going through hard times, we can take comfort that God has a plan forward because God’s purpose for us is His glory and the growth of His kingdom people.
So my prayer today is for faith to trust that God indeed has a plan and a purpose for me and my family. I am also praying for those whose difficult struggles are known to me. I pray that they would be reminded that God has a plan and purpose and so find comfort in Him.
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