I’ve always been a planner. I set goals and work toward them. I look ahead to potential obstacles and prepare for them. My friends know to come to me for a Band-aid or an Advil or a pen to write with because my purse is fully stocked. I’m quick to remind my sons of their own Boy Scout motto, “a Scout is always prepared.”
If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past couple of years, it is the importance of holding all my plans loosely. To live open handed, yielding to the Lord’s plan and not my own. To trust in his timely provision of grace. As James exhorts us, “you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15). I learned this during the pandemic, when one plan after another was cancelled—a humble reminder that I have no control over the details of my life. I learned it too when I was in a car accident—over a year ago now—one whose residual trauma made it difficult to drive for a while. My life then seemed to shrink down to moment by moment as I was forced to slow down, to rest, and to wait for healing.
These lessons are hard, but necessary, for they push me to trust in the Lord to meet my needs for today, not trusting in my well thought out plans, lists, or stocked emergency kit. Now don’t get me wrong, being prepared is a good thing. The trouble is when those preparations make us think we are in control—that we are the gods and goddesses of our own kingdoms. When we put our trust in our plans, lists, and preparations rather than in God. When we cease to be dependent upon him and trust in our strength and provision instead.
I am reminded of the Lord’s faithful provision for his people in Exodus. When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness, he fed them each day with manna. It was a bread-like substance that appeared on the ground each day. The Bible compares it to coriander seed which they had to gather each morning. Imagine picking up tiny seeds each day, enough for your family to eat! Based on how much my teenage boys eat, I would have spent the entire day gathering enough for just one meal!
They had to consume the manna the same day for by the next day it would go bad and be inedible. Before the Sabbath, they gathered enough to last throughout their day of rest. In this way, God taught them to rely on him each day to provide for their needs. Jesus spoke about the manna in John 6, revealing that manna pointed to something greater than daily bread; it pointed to Someone greater. "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33).
God gives us the grace we need for this day. And then the next day, he’ll provide what’s needed for that day. This doesn’t mean we don’t have tasks to do. It doesn’t mean we simply sit back and wait for life to happen. After all, Israel had to go out and pick up the manna God provided. In a similar way, we have to utilize the means of grace God provides. We have to read and study God’s word to know his will for our lives. We have to pray and ask him to meet our needs. We have to fellowship with other believers who can direct us to his grace when we’ve lost our way. We go out and pick up the manna for this day, knowing that tomorrow’s manna will arrive right on time.
Ultimately, it’s a heart posture. It’s living out the truth that we submit all our goals and plans to the One who rules over them. It’s a submissive, humble heart that trusts the Lord to meet us where we are with exactly what we need, when we need it. It’s a heart that doesn’t fear the future. It’s a heart that doesn’t trust in our own way, but in God’s way. It’s a heart that desires God’s will, not our own. As Tim Keller once tweeted, “If we knew what God knows, we would ask exactly for what he gives.”[1]
How freeing this is! I continue to make my plans. I still prepare for the day, for the week, for even the year. My purse still has an extra pen and Band-Aid for anyone who needs it. But all those plans and preparations must be entrusted to the Lord and his perfect will. My plans may go as expected or they might not. But one thing I do expect is great things from God—for his plans are far far greater than my own.
[1] https://twitter.com/timkellernyc/status/425310026203680768?lang=en
*Photo by Lina Trochez on Unsplash
