Category: Devotions

The Scent of Autumn

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Sitting in my backyard on a gorgeous autumn afternoon, I reached down and picked up a handful of leaves from the ground. As the brown and yellow leaves crackled in my hands, I remembered days of my childhood. I would rake a pile of autumn leaves and carve out a hole in the center. I would then sit there, delightfully surrounded by the leaves as I read book after book. Days seemed simple then, and my memory of reading in the leaves is amazingly vivid. As I lay in the pile of leaves consuming my books, my heart would leap as my imagination ran wild with all the possibilities of life.

Now a grown adult, I was tempted to smell the crackling autumn leaves in my hand. Knowing that our sense of smell is greatly related to memory, I took time to hold those leaves close to my face and breathe deeply. Ah . . . the comfort of childhood days came rushing back.

What amazed me was the constancy of the smell of the autumn leaves. Though my childhood reading in the fallen leaves occurred decades earlier, the scent of those leaves is exactly the same. I know not much of the biology and chemistry behind dying leaves, but I know this: they smell the same today as they did then.

Much else has changed in the decades between my experiences, but the scent of autumn is constant. God promised in Genesis 8:22 (NASB), “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

The changing of seasons and all the accompanying details continue on unhindered because God is a God of constancy.

He is a Savior on whom we can fully rely. The God who said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation, plants, and trees” is a God we can trust. His way of cycling the leaves through life and death – and all the reactions producing the smell of autumn – will continue on as long as the earth endures.

And when earth no longer does endure – when this broken planet has to flee from the presence of a righteous God (Revelation 20:11) – our Savior will still be reliable. He is the one constant in all of life. He will re-make this earth into a home of righteousness for the redeemed.

As the earth and its current regularity remind us of God’s constancy, so the return of Jesus and His re-making of this old earth remind us that only God is unchanging. Though the scent of autumn goes on and on in this life, the God who created autumn will outlast this world.

He alone is the One on whom we can depend to usher in the next world, and carry us there.

This is (Not?) Too Much for Me

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I know the tribulation of life can feel this way, but – for the Christian – it cannot accurately be said that a trial is simply “too much for me.” Oh, I have surely felt at my literal wit’s end in deep places of despair and struggle, but the Word of God stands true forever. Paul said triumphantly in I Corinthians 10:13 (NASB), “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

Either we believe in the God of the Bible or we do not. As a Christian who trusts God for my salvation, I must certainly also trust Him for my survival through difficulty. How can I claim the miracle of Him saving me from the wrath my sin deserves, but I cannot also believe the miracle that He provides my way to escape the temptation to sin or to give up?

I Corinthians 10:13 outlines five important facts to remember:

    1) Every trial we undergo is common to the human race. Despite our tendency to think we are the only ones who have ever felt the way we do, God ensures that our trials are not out of the realm of human experience or toleration.
    2) God is faithful even though we are not. Too often we view God the way we view ourselves or other people. We tend to think that God will act with us the way we might act with others. We imagine that He could possibly give up on His own people. Yet, God is transcendent – completely different than us. He has promised to remain faithful to those who desire Him. He promises that – despite our unfaithfulness – He will never let us down in the midst of greatest difficulty. No matter the trial, He will stay with us to provide a way to obedience and victory.
    3) God will not give to us more than we can endure. The God who created our physical bodies and our emotional, mental, and spiritual make-up certainly ascertains and measures precisely the trials we go through. He knows far better than we do just exactly what we can handle.
    4) God always provides a way of escape. In other words, God will surely give to us what we need to flee the temptation to disobey and cave to Satan’s tactics. God does this by making clear to us a route of escape. Remember the Israelites stuck between the approaching Egyptian chariots and the waters of the Red Sea? God made a route of escape through the sea. God did it. The Israelites simply followed the way God provided. So it is in our current trial. God provides the way for us to make it through, though our minds may see only trouble behind and before.
    5) God’s plan is that we endure, not be destroyed. I know it feels as though this will be the end of you, but that is not God’s plan. He provides a way of escape that you may be able to endure. He wants you to press forward in your walk with Him, and finally – one blessed day – make it to your heavenly home.

Yes, our hearts break under the weight of anguish and difficulties of many kinds. However, let’s take God at His Word. Let’s memorize and ponder and live out the truth of I Corinthians 10:13. Then we can say, “This is not too much for me, for my God is faithful.”

Magnanimous Mercy

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One of the saddest sentences in the Bible is this one: “Then all the disciples left Him and fled.” (Matthew 26:56b, NASB) Wow. Just as Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, His closest friends and followers abandoned Him.

Jesus had faithfully kept His word for three earthly years, serving alongside His disciples. Now, at this time of deepest despair – right when Jesus was about to begin this period of unimaginable suffering – His followers walk away. Shame on them! Should not they have realized what was happening? Should not they have understood that Jesus had predicted this event and its outcome? Should not they have stood by Him because of their love for Him? Should not their own fear and selfishness have been set aside for the sake of the Savior?

No, I cannot say, “Shame on them.” For each one of them is me. I walk away at times. I am faithless more often than I like to count. I abandon my Lord at various times of difficulty. I forget His promises. I am much like each disciple; I often fail my Jesus, though I hate the thought.

Thank God that “He Himself knows our frame; he is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103:14). For though the disciples fled right before His crucifixion, Jesus still died for them.

Jesus did not choose to go back on His promise of redemption even though His closest friends abandoned Him right as He was about to embark on the darkest moments of His earthly life. We can barely understand that kind of love. However, finite understanding does not negate this love’s reality.

Forty days after His Resurrection, Jesus looked at the same disciples who had forsaken Him and boldly proclaimed, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

A second “wow” is fitting here. The ones who had been faithless were now entrusted with the greatest task imaginable: being a witness to the world by the power of the living God inside of them.

God, may we, too – though we have failed you at times – be entrusted with Your calling. May we grasp the depths of your magnanimous mercy.

Those disciples went out more invigorated than ever because they experienced the profound forgiveness of Jesus. The ones who had fled the scene in fear now gave their own lives away for Jesus’ sake.

His mercy changes things – for the better.

Does Everything End with Us?

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Genuine Christianity results in a radically countercultural worldview. There is no way around this fact. The heart of Biblical Christianity is “God first.” The heart of today’s culture is “me first.” One need not be a philosophy scholar to recognize the law of non-contradiction at play here. Either it is God first or me first, but it cannot be both at the same time.

I recently fell into the cultural trap when I found myself praying that God would reveal to me what His plan for my life was in reference to certain circumstances swirling about me. I basically kept begging God to show me what he has for me. Feeling stressed and at times sorry for myself, I wanted to know how God would help me. This seems innocent at the surface, but the truth hit me like a brick after many months of praying in this general way and not receiving peace. The Lord then showed me, “Shelli, it’s not about what I have for you, but what you have for me,” He seemed to say. I realized that God was impressing on me this thought, “My life is to be spent for His sake – no matter the cost. The answer is not in finding how God fits into my plan and my life, but how I fit into God’s plan!”

Stepping back from my own encounter with the false worldview of self-centeredness, I began to ponder what has happened in recent times. Most of the marketing to which we are constantly exposed urges us to buy what will help us feel better about ourselves and give us a sense of fulfillment of our self-determined needs. We are prodded to buy gadgets that can be customized to our lifestyle and our personality, and that can satisfy our every whim. As Christians, we need to discern the empty philosophy behind this strategy, and boldly determine to think as God will have us think – even if that means dismantling in our own lives the pull of the marketplace. I know it can be difficult to imagine that the general marketplace could be wrong, but remember that we do not use the world as our compass. God’s unchanging Word is our standard.

What is the source of the “me first” culture in which we find ourselves? I believe it can be traced back to a pantheistic view that followed the period of modernism. A New Age type of thinking recently invaded our culture. The crux of this pantheism is explained well by Dean Halverson (2003, 177),

    As the existence of a transcendent God who created all things is denied, which is what the New Age movement does, then the objectivity – the solidness, the otherness – of external reality is diminished. When that happens, then the role of the individual in shaping reality increases in importance.

Pantheism is a belief that everything is God. Divinity is one, and people are an emanation of that “oneness.” Pantheism dangerously says that God is not “other than us” or “outside of us,” but that He is the same as us. Since we are divine (of course, it takes much contemplative meditation and striving to realize this), we have much to do with reality. In fact, Pantheists believe that we – in essence – create our own reality.

A pantheistic framework flowed easily into the idea of hyperindividualism that is so prevalent today. Matthew Vos (2010/2011, 22) explains,

    Another social change influencing schools and students hails from the hyperindividualism saturating the Western world. Television advertisements promote products that can be created, customized, and ordered to reflect the “real you.” Cars, iPods, computers, and pizzas can all be fashioned to your image and to your liking.

The culture’s worldview shifted easily from a general paradigm of pantheism to the specific problem of hyperindividualism. We humans have a much too inflated sense of ourselves and our role in reality when compared to God and His role in reality.

People in general have largely come to believe that the stuff of life is supposed to reflect us and be what we want it to be. We have come to feel that everything ends with us. Actually, we are not the end of the line. We are designed to point to God; the purpose of our lives is to glorify Him. Though we are yet sinners, we were created in His image (Genesis 1:26). The point of living is to make God the most important thing. It follows that the stuff of life is to reflect Him, too. Romans 1:20 declares that the entire creation tells us things about God.

Do we see the difference in thinking presented to us? It is not that the stuff of life points to us, but that we point to God. In turn, we harness this creation and use all He has given to bring glory to Him.

I realize now that the purpose of my life is to be used by God for His renown. My purpose is not to conform my experiences and circumstances to fit what I deem as a good or comfortable life (hyperindividualism streaming from pantheistic thought). The culture can present to me whatever slick marketing messages it wants, but I know that the Maker of Reality is my Maker. I am not an emanation from God; I am a creation of God. My life will be spent bringing glory to Him for as long as He gives me the strength to do so in this world, and then He will supply the strength for me to do so forever in the world to come! May we quit trying to manipulate circumstances to “create the reality” we desire, and –instead – gratefully endure all things as God is exalted.

References:

Halverson, Dean. 2003. The Illustrated Guide to World Religions. Bloomington, MN: Bethany House Publishers.

Voss, Matthew (2010/2011). “Kids These Days” in a World of Change. Christian School Education, 14 (1), 21-23.

A Teacher’s Reflection

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The job of a teacher is mysteriously all-pervasive. A real educator touches not only things academic, but things emotional, psychological, and spiritual. A teacher has a profound task as he demonstrates his life – not simply his brain – to all his students each and every day. Successful teachers are simply amazing, and their work’s difficulty is commensurate with its importance.

Perseverance is a hallmark attribute of the world’s best educators. A dedicated teacher considers the daily sacrifice required to give of oneself on so many levels, and the dedicated teacher decides the sacrifice is well worth it.

God told us in His Word that He is a “God of faithfulness” (Deuteronomy 32:4, NASB). I believe true teachers – in the right and Biblical sense of the word – beautifully reflect this critical attribute of God, His faithfulness.

To those among us who diligently plan lessons into the wee hours of the morning, who rise early to meet tired faces, who stay late to tutor the confused, who stand on their feet many hours in front of a myriad young minds, whose fingers are stained by day’s end with ink and dry erase markers, whose homes are filled with textbooks and notebooks, whose many evening hours are spent reviewing the work of the day, whose mouths are dry before lunchtime ever arrives, whose brains ache for being pulled in so many directions at once, whose heads are filled with plans to improve, and whose hearts overflow with love for those who are tomorrow’s hope; know this: you reflect the faithfulness of our God.

Though your days are both rewarding and wearisome, rejoice that you have been called to be as God is, faithful. Our Creator stands by His people through thick and thin, with patience unending. Our Creator does not abandon His people when they fail. Our Creator sees the best in His own. He strives and strives with His children at unimaginable cost.

Teacher, hold on to the high calling that is yours. Your own resources are limited, but your God’s resources are not. Our faithfulness falls short, but His is perfect. You exhibit His tenacity in your daily work. And when you grow weary, remember that you not only reflect His faithfulness; you have His faithfulness on which to depend.

Sweet Waters, Sweet Life

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Following the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, God’s people travelled into the wilderness. After three long days, they had still found no water. The only refreshment discovered had been the waters of Marah, which were bitter – too bitter to drink. As thirsty people would, the Israelites complained and asked their leader, Moses, how their thirst might now possibly be quenched. Moses knew exactly what to do; he cried out to God. After all, the Savior who divided the sea that his people might cross on dry ground could surely now lead them to water.

And God did provide. However, the Lord did not take them to a new place for sustenance. Rather, he transformed the old place. God showed Moses a tree. Moses threw that tree into the bitter waters of Marah. Suddenly, the formerly unpalatable water became sweet. Thirst was quenched, and life could be lived.

The peculiar fashion in which our timeless God worked for His thirsty people thousands of years ago indicates the way in which He now works for us. When we find life bitter and intolerable, God points to a tree to make life sweet and livable.

Who of us can swallow the distress of a guilty conscience? Who of us can live vigorously while dying of thirst for peace with a holy God? Who of us can tolerate the difficulty and disaster of life without assurance that we will someday know joy unhindered? Who of us can find the sweetness of life while the bitterness of guilt gnaws at our core? None can. Not one.

God points to the tree, the tree of Calvary. He bids us throw that tree into the mess and anguish of our sin. When that tree touches my soul, the dilemma is solved because the anguish of my sin is placed square on Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9:14 (NASB) proclaims, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” The blood of Jesus shed on the tree of Calvary is placed into my life to make all things well. With a clean conscience is the only way to live a sweet life.

Our lives can be transformed so that we may live in peace, just as the water of Marah could be made right to drink. God transformed the water by throwing a tree into the mix. He transforms our lives by presenting the tree of Calvary to the horror of our sin, thereby neutralizing sin’s effect with the sacrifice of His Son. What formerly seemed intolerable – our guilt-ridden life – is now a true delight.

“When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.” – Exodus 15:23-25a

Darkness Dispelled

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In the darkest of nights
And the brightest of days,

God is at work all the while.

No candle He needs,
No fumbling about,

Though murky and deep be the trial.

For God is light,
So where He is
The way stands clear and sure.

We yet perceive darkness
As we struggle with sin,

But God’s view of things is most pure.

Light chases darkness until it is gone,
Dispelling confusion and fear.

In an instant,
A beam cuts through shadowy night,
And suddenly things become clear.

In a moment,
Jesus charges through all time and space,
And swiftly our answers are near.

The Best

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Will I do the right thing?
Will I want the right thing?
Will I accomplish that thing in the end?

All the “wills” will be answered
One way, one day –

In the way that recalls the Giver of right,
In the day that pins all hope on Him.

God energizes my will to want right.
God energizes my flesh to do right.
God brings about what pleases Him.

God is at work in me.

He makes me want the best, and
He enables me to live the best,

When I realize the best is His pleasure.

“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:13

Why the Wilderness When I Want Happiness?

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Avoidance of pain is currently upheld as one of the greatest of aspirations. “What can God do for me that will make my life better, easier, and more palatable?” we ask. Isn’t a happy life a natural outcome of salvation?

Perhaps we need to go back to square one and be reminded of salvation’s essence. In Biblical terms, to be saved means to be delivered from sin’s power and consequence. First and foremost, we are sinful people who need drastic deliverance from our bent toward evil. The problem is not our material discomfort or our lack of satisfaction; the problem is that our very nature – and our actions – offends a holy God. God’s sacrifice of His own Son for the sinfulness of us brings our deliverance. A person who trusts in the atonement of Jesus is covered with His righteousness. That is deliverance. It is a pronouncement of being right – despite who we are – because we trust in Jesus.

Now, let us go back to the original question, “Isn’t a happy life a natural outcome of salvation?” Maybe we should be asking a different question, “Isn’t our salvation – our deliverance – the most important thing?” What could be more important than my hell-bent soul finding deliverance from sin? What is more vital than the eyes of my heart being fixed intensely on the God who saves me? What is more critical than my direct journey to the home of ultimate righteousness God is preparing for me?

In God’s estimation, there is nothing – simply nothing – more important than our deliverance. In fact, when God miraculously delivered the Israelites from slavery to Egypt, He chose to send them the long way to the Promised Land – through the wilderness. Why such a difficult path to traverse? Exodus 13:17b-18a makes clear, “God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, ‘The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ Hence God lead the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea.”

The wilderness would be difficult, with challenges galore. However, the short route through Philistia meant a direct turning back. God knew His people would be too quickly tempted to go back to bondage in Egypt, and they would then never reach the Promised Land.

So it is. The wilderness of our lives can be sadly difficult. Truly, only God Himself knows why we must travel the path we do. But, one thing we know for a fact: the avoidance of pain is simply not more important than our full deliverance. I will travel this wilderness path, since I know it means I will not turn back. I will see God one day in the place He resides.

The Only Thing We Ever Really Have

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All the money in the world. Fame beyond imagination. A body to be envied. Success of unbelievable proportions. All of this is meaningless the moment we take our last breath. And, perhaps, all of this is meaningless right now. The world is filled with people who are scared on the inside because life on the outside does not provide security whatsoever.

Think about this: we cannot even guarantee we will have a heartbeat in the next five minutes. When we strip away all the pride and self-sufficiency, we realize we are helpless creatures – completely unable to secure our destinies. What do we ever really have?

All we ever really have is the opportunity to connect with our Creator. We are at His mercy; and His mercy provides the opportunity to reach out to Him and react to His desire to hold us tightly.

I cannot control the world. (That is quite an understatement!) I cannot control tomorrow. I cannot control people. I cannot control the continuance or discontinuance of my very earthly life. The Word of God makes clear that God alone owns everything and controls everything. In Psalm 24:1, David penned, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

We may rebel against God’s ultimate ownership and control, but the truth remains unchanged no matter our disagreement. Many people’s ongoing denial of the sovereignty of God keeps them up at night, causes them internal and external distress, diseases their minds with discomfort and confusion, and saps them of the energy to live.

When a person comes to terms with the simple truth that the only thing he or she has is the opportunity for relationship with God, then a person is on the road to a life worth living.

David also said in Psalm 111:10 that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” In other words, to stand in reverent awe of God – to recognize we are at His mercy – is the ultimate starting point for the wisdom necessary to navigate this world.

What is the way to the only real life there is? Admit that you are helpless in the shadow of the living Lord who created you. Ask Him to make things right between you and Him by the sacrifice of Himself – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Godhead. In this sincere plea, we ask God to cover with the righteousness of Jesus our sin and inability to please Him.

What then? We rest. Isaiah proclaims in Isaiah 30:15, “In repentance and rest is your salvation.” We rest because we now finally and clearly see that the only thing we ever really had was the opportunity to connect with our Creator. Believing we are in control is a delusion, and one can never really rest in a lie. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

Electrons and Questions of the Heart

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Do you ever feel like even you cannot figure out what you’re really thinking? Have you ever wished you could express to someone the deepest ponderings of your heart? Does your mind get tired as you try to decipher the meaning of circumstances? Is the rush and demanding pace of the culture overwhelming your brain?

The good news is this: there is an answer. Preceding a recent time of prayer, all of the above noted feelings swirled about me. As I prayed, God brought me back to foundational truth.

Please do not allow the mention of science to dissuade your continued reading. After all, if God is real, He is the Maker of all things scientific. The alignment of scientific fact with the ways of God is most heartening.

Our foolish childhood inattentiveness in physical science class notwithstanding; protons, neutrons, and electrons are core components of atoms. The material world consists largely of electrons spinning around nuclei of protons and neutrons.

More amazing than even the seemingly ubiquitous existence of these unseen particles is the precision of their weights. The mass of an electron is 9.11 X 10-31 kilograms. Now, that is the number 911 with thirty zeros in front of it! What a tiny, tiny particle! The electrons whirl about the nucleus of each atom. Of what is the nucleus made? It is made of protons and neutrons.

Though the electron’s mass is so miniscule it seems immeasurable, the mass of a proton is 1,836 times greater at a diminutive 1.6726 X 10-27 kg. Amazingly, though we are dealing in masses so small they stagger the mind, the neutron weighs just slightly more than the proton and electron combined. By how much, you ask? By the number 1,389 with 29 zeros before it! Yes, a neutron outweighs the combination of a proton and electron by 1.389 X 10-30!

Why are we amazed? (You should be amazed, by the way.) Here are the mind-boggling facts:

    “If the combined mass of electrons and protons was not slightly less than that of the neutron, the two would unite to form neutrons, leaving the world devoid of electrons and protons. If the combined mass was more than the neutron, then neutrons would decay into protons and electrons, leaving the world devoid of neutrons. Neither scenario results in a life-sustaining universe.” (Meister, 74)

Do we get it? The numbers and differences in weights are so small they seem almost meaningless to us. Yet, at a level that deep, everything must be right on for life to exist. The Creator is that meticulous, that overwhelmingly exact and involved in what He has made.

Similarly, the Creator is that meticulously involved in our hearts. Following are two passages from God’s Word to consider:

    “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” (Psalm 139:4-6, ESV)
    “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thought and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, ESV)

As I prayed the other day, thoughts of the precision of the mass of atomic particles spurred me to ponder the amazing accuracy of God’s understanding of every part of my mind and heart. He is not confused by the ongoing collision of memories, hopes, analysis, disappointments, encouragement, emotions, and strivings happening in me. He sees and measures each one.

Though the thought of God’s immense knowledge is “too wonderful for me” (Psalm 139:6), I rest in it. I cannot figure myself out, but He can. I need that assurance, for what point is there if nothing makes sense to anyone?

God’s Word is able to divide soul and spirit and discerns the intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). Oh, thank you, dear Jesus, for I am unable to know my own intentions at times.

What joy came when God impressed on me His ability to know it all, His care to hold my heart and mind together – down to the tiniest detail – just as He holds the atoms together with marked precision.

There exists no physical life without God’s grand assessment, precision, and power to guide each detail. There is no life at all without His power to know us. And since He knows us like that, how should we respond? The answer is found in Part II, yet to come.

Reference: Meister, Chad V., Building Belief (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006)

God Is Bigger Than The Plan

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Lately I have been pondering plans. You know – plans of all kinds – long term, short term, strategic, five-year, selfish, unselfish, corporate level, personal, realistic and unrealistic.

We live in a world of plans and schemes and hopes and dreams. Encouraged at every turn to map out our lives and careers, we devise many scenarios. We feel pressured to articulate the steps of next week, next month, next year, and so on and on and on.

Orderliness is of God. The mathematician in me cries out on behalf of logic and regularity. As human beings created in the image of God, we ought to strive for order and design. However, we need to remember that we are just that – created in the image of God.”

God alone stands transcendent, above and outside His creation. He is, therefore, unable to fail, never confused, unaffected by wrong passion, clearly able to see the future, powerful enough to clear obstacles, wise enough to differentiate between obstacles and blessings, and loving enough to desire our best even when we cannot understand His working.

Proverbs 19:21 (NIV) declares, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”

Our plans originate in our hearts. God’s purpose originates with God. I am the created. He is the Creator. I have many plans. He has one purpose.

The only way my plans make any sense is as I seek to align them with His will. And even then, in my limited understanding, I can misinterpret the will of God. I can selfishly confuse what I want with what God wants.

Let us therefore be sure to put God before the plan. To us, the plan seems so big. But the plan is so much smaller than God.

Having recently earned a graduate degree in educational leadership, I know the value of strategic plans. Having been created by a transcendent God, I know He is bigger.

If my plans come to pass because God sees fit to bring them about, so be it.

If God’s purpose supersedes what I had in mind, so be it as well.

If I exalt my ideas above His, I am hopeless.

If I exalt Him above my ideas, I may just see my ideas coordinate with His purpose!