His Plans>My Plans

“When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense.” -Oswald Chambers

From his book My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers gives us a poignant perspective on what the Christian walk is all about. Faith isn’t about figuring out the when, how or why. If we could, it wouldn’t be walking in faith. It would be walking in our own common sense. If we are still in control of the situation, we are leaning on our own strength, instead of putting faith in what is outside of our own control. Above all else, faith is letting go of our own logic and relying on the Lord’s sovereignty, trusting and believing that His ways and His plans are so much greater than our own.

At the beginning of the year, the LORD spoke very clearly to me and said, “Let go of your own logic.” Dealing with situations in my life that has me doing everything to try and take control, figure out the next steps, and find some clearing in what feels to be very foggy, I realized that I was doing everything but letting go. So, I prayed that simple prayer, Lord, help me to let go of my own logic.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

It’s easy to have faith when everything is going smoothly and your feet are on solid ground and you have a clear sense of direction. But as Hebrews tells us, faith is putting our hope in what we cannot see. So, when you can’t see anything? When nothing makes sense? When everything feels like it’s shaking beneath your feet? It is here, when logic only gets you so far that faith steps in and reveals the mighty hand of God.

We want to go deeper in faith, but in order to do so, we have to find ourselves in situations where nothing makes sense, where human reasoning and logic can’t solve the issues present, where human sufficiency is not enough. God uses not so great circumstances to turn our attention away from our own hands and lean on His, instead. It is in these difficult places that God gives us the opportunity to surrender some things over to Him so that He may reveal Himself to us in a whole new way.

In the foggiest chapters of our lives, in the middle of so much unknown, faith is activated. In truth, the faith that is being put in you today will be a tool in your belt that will help you when you find yourself on a similar battlefield in the future. But, then, there are times when the faith of yesterday will not carry us into tomorrow. And, so, the LORD takes us through new battles to deepen our faith even more. In Hebrews, when it lists the great men of faith, including Abraham, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, their faith didn’t just come from believing in God. But, their faith came from being put in an impossible situation where God showed up, rescued, and revealed Himself to them as their God. He makes Himself personal to us in the middle of our storms. And, I know it’s hard to believe, but God is working it all together for good. To bring glory to His name. And, ultimately, increase our faith so that we might point people to heaven and His beautiful saving name. Jesus, the name above all names.

Whatever you are walking through today, I encourage you to let go of your own logic, embrace the strengthening hand of God, and start thanking God for what He is going to do in your life. When we begin to praise Him and thank Him like He’s already done it, it activates the faith not only in us, but in those around us, too. And it is this type of faith that opens doors unimaginable.

Don’t give up in the waiting. Abraham held on, even through thirteen years of silence.

Galatians 6:9 states, “Do not grow weary in well doing, for in due season, we will reap if we faint not.”

As His Word says, His ways and His thoughts are so much better and higher than our own. Keep surrendering every desire, dream, plan, unanswered prayer, unknown future into His hands. What you are walking through in this season isn’t just for you, but it’s so that your faith can be elevated to a place that others will be able to see it and experience it, too. That’s powerful and so exciting when we begin to understand that God is crafting our story into the Greater Story, that others may come to know our King better.

This is why, with every ounce of my being, I can say with all the confidence in the world
His plans>My plans.