Conversations about the future often end with the cliché: Never say ‘never.’ It’s true: you never know what is going to happen. Sometimes things go exactly as planned; often they do not. God has a way of interrupting our plans. Never say ‘never.’
During my childhood a few things were clear: I could not sit still, I was good at reading and writing, I loved adventure and had a flair for creative projects, but no patience for anything I considered dull or overly structured. I had no self-discipline, especially for things like long division. As I was finishing college many years later, I briefly considered going to law school. I had skills that might make me good at some aspects of the law, but it all seemed dull and overly structured. It was the LAW, after all—an entire field dedicated to RULES and structure (so much STRUCTURE!). For example, every judge has his own Local Rules and every pleading filed in his courtroom better comply, right down to the size 13 font.
So I dismissed the notion. I was never going to law school. (Contrary to the cliche, I said ‘never.’) But eight years later, God called me to do just that. And everything I thought about it proved true—I was good at the things I expected to be good at, and struggled with the things with which I expected to struggle. Yet, God had a plan–and it makes a bit more sense looking back so many years later.
“I know, Lord, that a man’s way is not his own. No one who walks determines his own steps” Jeremiah 10:23.
God directs our steps. If you are following Jesus, be ready: He may surprise you! Things you think will never happen, may happen. Consider some other translations of Jeremiah 10:23:
“I know, God, that mere mortals can’t run their own lives, that men and women don’t have what it takes to take charge of a life.”
“I know it is not within the power of man to map his life and plan his course.”
“I know our lives are in Your hands. It is not in us to direct our own steps—we need You.”
ONLY GOD CAN PLAN YOUR LIFE.
“Trust in the Lord with all thy heart. Lean not on thine own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths” Proverbs 3:5-6.
Let Jesus take the wheel in all your decisions: trust God–and never say ‘never.’
ΑΩ
Household Words: 