Are we there yet?

Every parent and children with younger siblings hate to hear this dreaded question.  Okay maybe hate is too strong a word, but most don’t like, especially when it is repeated every 3 minutes.  But sometimes, I wonder if God ever gets tired of hearing us ask this same question.

In my daily devotional time the other day, I was reading in Proverbs 19.  These two verses stood out to me.

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purposes that prevails.”—Proverbs 19:21

“The fear of the Lord leads to life:Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.”—Proverbs 19:23

So many times we want to have everything figured out in life.  We want our questions answered, we want our directions set and we like our life plans and dreams to be set.  Maybe I’m the only one, but I love being spontaneous but hate not knowing my future.  It is so hard for me to rest in God’s plans for my life.  Like the Solomon says I have tons of plans in my heart.  Things I’d like to accomplish, places I’d like to go and it gets frustrating when God’s ideas and his plans don’t match up with mine.

If only I could learn to trust fully in God.  Then I might have the rest and contentment that I need to not go insane.  When we start to focus on ourselves, it is too easy to get distracted and to forget to find God.  It is then, when we seem not to be content but rather always searching for the next and brightest idea to entertain us.  I am reminded of a passage from Colossians 3 where Paul writes “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”  If only I can remember this when I get distracted.

So are we there yet?  Only God knows the answer.  Just like a parent who knows the directions, the time of travel and the mileage one must go to reach his destination, so God is the one who knows about our journey, our plans and our dreams.  May we always learn to trust in God and find our satisfaction in his timing and contentment in His plans.

Grace and Peace