His Plans Are Good

It was a sunny Tuesday morning. I felt confident that the answer I had been waiting for would come that day. I also believed it would be the answer I needed and the one I wanted. I started the day cheerfully and looked forward to my answer with great anticipation. I turn it over to you, Lord. I know you will give me what I need, I prayed.

I was met with silence.

As the day wore on and it looked like what I had optimistically predicted wasn’t going to happen, my cheerfulness began to fade. My confidence began to fail. Why had I been so certain today would finally deliver the answer?

I slowly took back what I had given to the Lord.

I trust you, Lord, but I guess I was wrong. Today is not the day this will be resolved.

I trust you, Lord, but I don’t understand why this isn’t working out.

I turned this over to you, Lord, but maybe I should work on it myself for a little while. I’ll just take this burden back now.

By the time my workday ended, my cheerful attitude was entirely gone. I was tired, stressed, and sad. As I drove home, I had the radio tuned to our local contemporary Christian station. I almost changed the station because, to be quite honest, I was enjoying my sulking session and I wasn’t ready to be lifted out of it.

One of my favorite songs, All My Hope by Crowder, came on. It’s an awesome take on a classic hymn, and I sang along as loud as I could. You just have to praise Jesus when this song is on. I get it, Lord, I thought. Nothing matters but Jesus. All my hope is in him.

Right after that literal come-to-Jesus meeting, one of my other favorite songs came on the radio, Even If by MercyMe. The song echoes the statements of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:16–18: “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up’” (NIV, emphasis mine).

The basic message of that Bible story and the song is that the Lord definitely can do what we want him to do, but even if he doesn’t, we still praise him, and we still have faith in him. Part of the chorus of the song are these powerful words:

I know You’re able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don’t My hope is You alone

I like to think I’m a smart person, but whatever intelligence I have pales in comparison to the Almighty God. I have to keep reminding myself that I don’t have all the answers, and I definitely can’t foresee the future. I’m not privy to all of God’s plan, but I am sure of two things: God’s plan is good, and God’s timing is perfect.

We are human, and we all struggle, but we can’t let circumstances dictate our moods and our lives. We need to remind ourselves daily—sometimes even hourly or minute by minute—that God is in control, and even if we can’t see or understand his plan, it is good.

The day after my disappointment, I had ten minutes free between my children’s wake-up times. Instead of scrolling through Facebook (which I would choose to do far more than I care to admit), I opened my Bible. The next verses on my reading plan were Ephesians 1:15–23. Verses 18 and 19 practically leapt off the page to me: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (NIV).

I felt as if the Lord was speaking directly to me, telling me to open my eyes and see the hope and power I have as a Christian, and that he has called me to do great things for him. In other words, stop obsessing over this one thing, focus on what he has called me to do in sharing the gospel, and truly trust that he will work everything out for my good.

As of right now, I still don’t have that answer I was looking for, but I am faithfully waiting to see what the Lord will do and what his timing brings.

Dana Herndon is a writer, blogger, and a middle school teacher. She and her husband live in Georgia with their three children. In addition to teaching and writing, Dana loves to read, paddle board, and sometimes run. She blogs about faith, family, and enjoying the everyday life at danaherndon.com.

Photograph © Aaron Burden, used with permission