Trusting the Right Planner

It's easy for me to say "God, I trust you."

It's hard for me to say, "God, I trust you and I am okay with not knowing how or when you are going to act in this situation."

I can be spontaneous and flexible. I love a good adventure and the unknown when it comes to exploring new things. But I am also a planner. I like to be organized, color coded, and prepared for what is ahead.

When God doesn't show me how he is going to "work all things for my good," I get a unsettled and a little nervous.

There seems to be two sides of a coin. On one side, I say I trust God to work but I do so much trying to "help" God work that I'm probably not really trusting that he is going to do what he has promised he will do. My excuse is, "I'm going to work super hard in this because then God can work through me... and I can get to my goal faster."

On the other side of the coin is me trusting God and doing absolutely nothing to help in the situation. "If God doesn't do anything for or through me then I guess it wasn't supposed to be."

There is a problem with both sides of the coin. On the first side, I'm really not trusting God to provide for me. On the second side, I'm using God's power as an excuse to be lazy and not participate in God's work.

Now don't get me wrong, in some cases we really do just need to sit and wait for the Lord (Psalm 27:14). But in those times of waiting, we need to pray expectantly, with boldness and humility.

In my personal walk, I need to find that middle ground between the two sides of the coin. I also need to learn to be okay with NOT knowing how or when God is going to act. For His ways are not our ways and if I truly trust him, I'll be okay with not knowing how or when God will act. I need to trust and rely on the divine Planner rather than my ever changing, color coded, planner.

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