“The Lord will work out His plans for my life –
for Your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.
Don’t abandon me, for You made me.”
Psalms 138:8 NLT
What are God’s plans for my life? I look back in my life and see at times how a potentially chaotic situation resolved into a good result. How a far from ideal life-choice I made somehow became something better. Was God working out His plans for my life? Gently and persuasively whispering in my ear, “Not that way, better this way”?
The Psalmist was clear in today’s verse. Because God’s love for each one of us is faithful and ever-enduring, He will work out in our lives what He wants us to do. He has plans for each one of us. And David, the Psalmist, says why – because He made us. But we look around us, at our nation, at world events. We see the ravages of the pandemic. We see wars and conflicts. We see persecution, the ill-treatment of our Christian brothers and sisters, and ask the question, “Where are God’s plans in all this?” This is a world in the grip of sin. And a sobering thought is that it would be infinitely worse without God working out His plans in the lives of His servants. Because He made us. Because He loves us. As we work out God’s plans in our societies and communities, we are “salt and light” bringing peace to where there is no peace. Bringing God’s presence into a godless world.
There is a day coming, when all His plans will have been completed. Job done. But as the Psalmist says, God’s love for us will still be there. It endures forever. God will never abandon us. Our lives on this planet will end and instead transition into a wonderful life with Him.
Being a Pilgrim 