The Plan, The Teens & Tweens, and the Apple

Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'

If you have followed my BLOG at all, you’d know that I have written about this passage on several different occasions. God is quite plain in telling us throughout His Word that He has plans for us and that those plans are to provide hope for a future that is in Him. During church a few weeks back, a young woman got up and shared this verse. She explained that the Holy Spirit had pressed this verse on her and after reading it, she admitted that she almost flippantly told God, ‘Yeah…you have plans for me…and?’ God came right back and told her, ‘No…you don’t understand. I, the Lord your God, have plans for you…when are YOU going to accept my plan and by faith, walk in it?’

Now, I’ve read this scripture countless times, but God, through the testimony of this girl, revealed a perspective that I had never considered before. God, in His infinite wisdom and all encompassing love, has a plan for each and every one of us. It’s not some vague, general, meandering plan, but one that has been customized for you…for me…but the deal is this, we have to decide to accept, claim and walk in His plan. God doesn’t force us to accept Him, nor does He force us to believe or accept the ultimate sacrifice His son Jesus paid for us and He’s not going to force us to accept His plans for us either. As with salvation, this is a choice we have to make...follow His perfect plan, or follow our imperfect one.

Why is it that we feel we know what’s better for our lives than God? It’s funny…we experience this very thing from our own kids…we don’t know what we’re talking about, or we’re ‘not in the know’, no matter how you cut it, our kids feel they know what’s better for themselves than us and we, well, we’re just clueless. It doesn’t matter that we’ve been down the same roads and that we have the advantage(?) of knowing the pain and disappointment that often comes from ignoring the wisdom of our parents. And on the flip side, I now know what my own parents must have felt at those times…fear that he might not make it on his own…frustration over her lack of motivation to get good grades…If he’d just take school seriously…if she’d just take my advice…and God says, ‘Hmm, apples don’t fall far from the tree…’ Wha?...Hey! I was talking about my kids! And He says, ‘Yeah, so was I!’

Oh…yeah…

~ V