Remember when you were a kid and you thought you knew what you wanted to be when you grew up?  I went through a stage when I wanted to be a chemist.  I liked science and was given a book of simple experiments.  I had a tiny cabinet with my supplies, beakers and test tubes and spent many happy hours playing chemist.  However, when I got to high school and actually took a chemistry class, whoa!  It became very clear that I wasn’t cut out to be a chemist.  I bet you have similar stories of making plans and later realizing your own make-up would prevent you from accomplishing those plans, but other plans were well suited to you. 

This time of year we’re bombarded with media messages that we should pull ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and resolutely move on toward some lofty goal.  We can do anything we put our mind to.  All of us, we’re told, should grow our self-confidence, be fit, be positive, be self-directed, be strong, be fulfilled, be successful, and hopefully change the world.  If I see one more weight loss plan …!  Or one more meditation suggestion.   One more self-empowerment article . . . Or one more business coaching promise!  Now don’t get me wrong.  There’s nothing wrong with planning or having good intentions, or being positive or fulfilled, or wanting to change the world.  It’s just that we can’t hope to do those things on our own.

“Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.  What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”  Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.”  James 4:13-16

It isn’t wrong at all to make plans.  It’s our attitude that makes planning good or bad.  If we’re depending on our own control of our lives, we’re guilty of pretension because in reality, we don’t have the final say over our lives.  We are finite beings who cannot even control the day of our death.  I think of a news story this week that reported the death of a man who was walking with two companions on a forest path when a tree suddenly fell on him and killed him, injuring one of the others while no harm came to the third.   I don’t think that man got up that morning realizing it was the last day of his earthly life.  He was doing nothing risky or wrong as he took that walk, yet it was his day to die.

If we admit that our entire life is under God’s control, and we happily submit to his will, we are free to make big plans.  Acknowledging the bigness of God and our own smallness actually is the foundation of good planning.  That sounds counterintuitive because our culture insists that we get ahead by believing in ourselves- making much of me.  We are told that we have what it takes to be successful.  We should reach down into ourselves and find the grit to move forward against all obstacles.  But Scripture teaches us a different outlook.  

“Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”  2 Corinthians 3:5

“I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me . . .” Romans 15:8

We have what it takes because God empowers us.  His Spirit provides the strength, drive, and persistence to move forward.  Power comes from God, not ourselves.  And he is such a generous provider!  He has given us promises to rely on so we don’t have to go it alone to somehow muscle through barriers on our own.  He has freely given us the strength, wisdom, and love to live obedient, meaningful lives.

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him . . .”  2 Peter 1:3

And the God we serve is kind, full of tenderness and mercy even when our plans fall apart as Job’s did.  He was well to do, we assume because of his hard work and excellent business acumen.  He had a close-knit, loving family, and he was a devout worshiper of God.  Yet, he lost everything including his family and his health.  In his pain, he pleaded for God to listen to him.  But God was aware of his loss before it ever happened.  God kindly met with him, giving him a new understanding of the greatness of God.  Afterward, God added more family and material goods to Job besides the huge blessing of knowing God better from this personal encounter.

I didn’t have a great year health-wise.  Husband and I got the flu that kept us down for a month this past Spring.  Then I got a kidney stone that was treated poorly which kept me down for another month this Summer.  Immediately after returning from our once in a lifetime trip for our son’s wedding this Fall, I encountered another health issue that seriously limited my mobility for two months.  For someone who has been “healthy as a horse” for decades, these were hard trials.  But I had the assurance that God was in control and had good plans for me.  He comforted me and reminded me that he cared. Husband and I have grown closer because of these trials and I appreciate him even more than before.

” For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.”  James 5:11

I’m ringing in this new year with his promises ringing in my ears.  I have his mighty power working in me to accomplish good things.

“So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.”  2 Thessalonians 1:11Downloadable link to use image as you please.  (screensaver, fb, Insta) 

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”  Ephesians 3:20Downloadable link to use verse image