Best Laid Plans by Mandi Cooper
Can’t God see how much better it would be? Doesn’t He care how much it hurts?
I’ve asked these questions, over and over. But what I have learned and am learning still is that when I ask these questions I’m missing the point.
For one thing, God doesn’t owe us anything. He has already given us far more than we deserve and He does not exist to satisfy our whims or to maximize our happiness.
Though He still chooses to give many very good and abundant gifts, His generosity is not something we have any right to demand.
In life, in His word, in His church, in Christ, He has already given us more than we could ever merit.“God doesn’t owe us anything. He has already given us far more than we deserve and He does not exist to satisfy our whims or to maximize our happiness.”
But for another – and, I think, more important – thing, asking these questions means I’ve forgotten who He is.
“Can’t God see?” Of course He can see! He sees all. “Doesn’t God care?” Of course He cares. He treasures you more than life itself.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor during World War II, was thrown into prison by the Nazis, who suspected him of treason.
They were correct. Bonhoeffer had been using his work as a pastor to cover his role in plotting to kill Hitler, in coordinating with foreign officials to overthrow the Nazi government, and in helping Jews flee the country.
But the Nazis had no proof when they locked him away and they kept him suffering in prison for two years before finally executing him shortly before the end of the war.
Bonhoeffer had plans. He was engaged to be married. He had dedicated his life to training pastors in loving God and serving Him and His people. He was active in work to end the war and stop Hiter’s reign of terror.“There is far more joy and comfort, happiness and delight to be found in God Himself than in anything we could hope for or desire outside Him.”
Surely all those were good things? Did God not know? Did God not care?
Bonhoeffer’s writings from his time in prison reveal that he struggled with those questions, but he was dedicated to God and knew that more than any of his plans, what mattered was knowing God.
“May God in His mercy lead us through these times,” he wrote, “but above all, may He lead us to Himself.”¹
There is far more joy and comfort, happiness and delight to be found in God Himself than in anything we could hope for or desire outside Him.
God’s aim is not to maximize our happiness in this life, but to teach us to love and find our delight in Him because that is where true happiness is found.
When things don’t go my way, the questions I should be asking are how can these circumstances move me closer to God? How is God revealing Himself to me in my disappointment? How can I love Him more?“If we see Him as He truly is, how can we not love Him? And if we love Him, how can we let anything matter more than having Him?”
How do we reach this place, where God takes precedence over even our best and most noble ambitions? Where we look at years we feel are wasted and find our joy in God Himself?
We do it by remembering who He is. By looking at Him and only at Him.
As Paul wrote, we fix our eyes on Jesus. For if we see Him as He truly is, how can we not love Him? And if we love Him, how can we let anything matter more than having Him?
The path is not a straight line. For as often as Bonhoeffer expressed this remarkable faith, he struggled to keep faith in his trials.
For me, it can be in the space of a heartbeat that I go from feeling full of faith to regretting what God would keep from me. And that’s ok.
The aim is always the same: to love God more, to turn our eyes on Jesus, to look full on His wonderful face and let the things of earth grow dim, as the hymn says.
When we look at who God is, these are the things we see:
- He is sovereign. There is not a moment of our lives outside His control, not a thing He is unable to cause or prevent. (Rom. 8:28, Is. 45:7-9, Is 46:9-10, Job 42:2)
- He is holy. Everything He does and doesn’t do is utterly right and perfect. (Rev 15:4, 1 Sam. 2:2, Is. 57:15)
- He is omniscient. Nothing escapes His notice. (Matt. 10:29-31, Ps. 139, Ps. 147:5)
- He is wise. He not only sees, but He understands everything. (Rom. 11:33-34, Is 55:8-9, Dan. 2:20-22, 1 Cor 1:25)
- He is compassionate. He cares deeply about the hurts and sufferings we experience. (Jn. 11:17-43, Is. 49:15-16, Is. 30:18, Ps. 103:13-14)
- He is good and generous, willing and eager to bless. (Matt. 7:9-11, Ps. 34:8, Is. 55:6-7)
If all these things are true – and they are! – then whatever it is we want and can’t have, it must be because God – all seeing, all powerful, righteous, wise, and good – has determined it is for our good that we do not have it.
In Psalm 73, Asaph struggles with seeing the wicked thrive – with watching those who do not know or love God get the happiness of this life and see their plans succeed, while his own are constantly foiled.
But in the end, he looks to God and remembers that God is worth far more than anything on earth. The Psalm ends with the prayer that we seek to echo when God foils our best laid plans:
23)Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
24) Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25) Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
26) My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27) For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
28) But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works. Psalm 73:23-28 (KJV)
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References
1. Letters and Papers from Prison, Touchstone 1997, p. 370