Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21, ESV)
I wasn’t nervous as I approached the drive-thru window for my first COVID-19 test, but I was unsure about what the swab would feel like. Somehow, I made it 13 months without such a test. The pharmacist looked at my driver’s license and disappeared. When she returned behind her mic, she informed me that I didn’t have an appointment. “Are you sure?” I scrambled through my emails to prove I had an appointment, only to feel the heat of embarrassment flood my face as I realized the appointment had been two days prior.
I hate making mistakes. Panic set in because I needed proof of a negative result to be onsite with the Symetra Tour players for their third event of the season. My careful, thought-out plans were going up in flames. Frustrated with myself and with how COVID continues to thwart my ministry plans, I wanted to raise a white flag and go home.
Sometimes we make plans that turn out exactly how we envision. Other times, plans are disrupted or fail completely. This can result from no fault of our own, or because we lost track of our calendar or made some other error.
Our motivation and responsibility are to delight in and seek God first, allowing our plans to mature toward glorifying God and not ourselves.
I believe God wants us to co-participate with him in our lives. The Hebrew word mahasaba is used in our passage from Proverbs today. Besides being fun to say out loud (try it), it means thoughts or the inventions (intentions) that spring from such thoughts. If we make our plans the authority or measuring stick for success, we are placing our plans above the purposes of God for our lives.
The second part of our proverb today cannot be ignored, “It is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” In Hebrew Scripture, purpose belongs to God—it is his possession. And it belongs to the promised Messiah—God’s greatest purpose. In this light, I looked into the book of Isaiah and saw “…the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:26-27a).
What does this mean for us today? The connection I am leaning into is that we are a possession of God and we are the recipients of the promised Messiah—Jesus. God’s hand is stretched out and he has purposed his plans in us. Our motivation and responsibility are to delight in and seek God first, allowing our plans to mature toward glorifying God and not ourselves.
I don’t know why it was such a challenge for me to plan out my COVID test, but I found assurance in knowing that God still had me in his purpose and his hands. I made it to the tournament site; my plans just took a few extra turns along the way.
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Tracy Hanson
April 15, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.